Knights of the Old Republic II:Sith Lords Telos
by RoadDogStone
Summary: Xander, Dawn and Faith join the Exile as their journey takes them to Telos in search of the Ebon Hawk and hopefully someone who can help. Encountering new, and old friends. READ 3132513 First!
1. Chapter 1

**Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos**

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

**Somewhere in the depths of space……**

JedI Master Lonna Vash adjusted the small civilian vessel's navigation protocols before bringing the ship back into real space, then she immediately began to calculate the next set of hyperspace coordinates she needed to reach her destination.

A feeling in the pit of her stomach prompted her to stop, it was a familiar feeling, similar to the one she felt only a week before.

Except this time the force wasn't going to let her simply feel it.

A slide show of images and emotions flashed through her mind.

A tall blonde woman with a face from the past…._Pain._

A shorter brunette cleaving through spider like droids, then Sith Assassins like a storm…_Loneliness._

A tall man with one eye and shaggy dark hair, smiling and joking…_Despair._

She opened her eyes and realized that the ceiling had decided to move, or she fell from her chair, it really didn't matter, the vision was more than she had experienced in her entire life as a JedI, it was short, but intense.

"Master?" echoed the voice of her Padawan from the cock-pit door, "Are you alright?".

Vash stood and slipped back into her chair, the pain in her head was nearly unbearable "A moment Kaah" was all she could say.

She was vaguely aware of the Twi'lek slipping into the co-pilots seat, taking over at the controls until she could focus again, it took far longer than she had anticipated, leaving her feeling drained.

"Things have changed my friend" she said quietly as she peeled the vision apart inside her mind, stripping it layer by layer, revealing more images that had been buried beneath the everything.

Her Padawan remained silent, knowing she would explain in time.

"The Exile!…has returned….and she's not alone" she said as she focused on the myriad of faces that flashed through her mind.

"The Exile?" Kaah Ohtok asked as he activated the ships Hyperdrives, "The visions you told me about last year have come to pass?".

"Apparently, though these visions are different than the first ones I received, something changed the flow of the force, the force itself has changed events to compensate…" she sighed and stood up.

"You have the controls Kaah, I am drained and need to meditate" she rested a hand on his shoulder "When we reach our destination be very discreet, our enemy may already know we are coming and we still have much to accomplish".

The cobalt blue Twi'lek cleared his throat "I shall endeavour to be..discreet" he smiled as he spoke perfect trade basic.

Vash smiled and left the cock-pit, moving to the small ships common area, once out of sight she leaned against the wall and felt the tears begin to flow.

She never expected to see those faces again.

**TELOS**

Bao'Dur raced along a narrow ledge to avoid being spotted by any of Czerka's security patrols, that may have circled around through the valley behind him, the tall Zabrak knew he could remain unseen, no one knew the Restoration zones better than he did.

He glanced up to spy his immediate destination and stopped, something was out of place, he looked around with narrowed eyes, everything seemed normal.

Then the sound of heavy weapons fire reached his ears, it was distant yet it echoed through the area, a short series of explosions followed and then a high pitched whine began to build.

"Someone is having a very bad day" he muttered to his only friend, a small droid the size and shape of a small ball.

The tiny droid floated above his shoulder, it clicked a few times and rushed ahead along the ridgeline "A shuttle you say" he frowned and raced after his friend.

Reaching the top of the ridge, he carefully peeked over, just in case a patrol waited within the ravine on the other side and hesitated as a small dark speck along the horizon came into view.

"An orbital shuttle, they've been hit" he said quietly, noticing the long trail of black smoke pouring from behind as it struggled to remain in the air "They won't stay up there much longer" he realized.

Those words seemed to hang in the air for a moment, then the shuttle dipped too low and caught the lip of a valley wall, not enough to stop the vessel but enough to slow it as it bounced into the air in a slightly higher arc before dipping back down again, clipping another valley wall.

He watched the shuttle skip across the landscape, like it was a rock that someone had tossed across a still pond before it dipped into another valley not far from his current position, a loud boom echoed and smoke poured up from the terrain.

"At least the impact didn't cause a full rupture" he said as he quickly moved over the ridge "Let's see how bad the damage is shall we?" .

It took less than five minutes to reach the valley and the shuttle, Bao'Dur moved fast, ignoring the flames and smoke that poured from one still active engine.

He quickly moved to the rear hatch, safely on the other side of the engine that still burned, noticing the other engine was gone, likely sheered off during an earlier impact with the earth.

The hatch opened rather easily, taking a deep breath he dived into the smoke filled cabin, he was able to make out six figures, one was at the controls and the other five were sprawled out across the rear area, he ignored everyone closer to the door and headed for the pilot, which after a quick check to make sure he was alive slung him over his shoulder and turned towards the door.

With the pilot safely away from the burning shuttle he quickly returned for the next passenger, the rest were smaller or at least lighter, he managed to pick two at a time in order to speed things up, the last thing he wanted was to get caught in a reactor breach.

Within a minute he was down to the last passenger, a young man with one eye who had seen better days, he had saved him for last because his wounds were serious, even at first glance, he carefully picked the boy up and carried him out to the others.

Then he stood back to check them all over, stopping when he saw the face of the tall blonde, he shook his head, surprised to be seeing that face down here after so many years.

A short dark haired woman clad in Echani combat armour woke up first, he quickly knelt beside her and opened his canteen of water "Easy now, that was quite the crash".

Faith looked up at the man who was offering her a something to drink and instinctively wanted to reach out and crush his head, she hesitated though, remembering that this was another galaxy, and that she hadn't felt anything Demony since they arrived.

Besides, the…guys, eyes were full of warmth, and kindness, they actually made the strange alien with spikes all over his skull look kinda yummy.

"Thanks" was all she could say, accepting the canteen she took a small sip before handing it back.

The two of them heard another voice, drawing their attentions "My head…feels like it's been ripped in half".

Faith smiled, the Alien however spoke first "Good to have you back General".

This caught Faith by surprise…General?.

Shayla looked at the alien, still cradling her head with one hand "General?".

The alien nodded as he moved to help her stand "Easy now, You all survived one spectacular crash. Lucky I was here to pull you from that shuttle or you'd all be more than a little crispy, but it's only fair, I owe you more than one General".

Shayla looked at the alien with obvious caution "You know me?".

"You must be in shock from the crash. Have to expect some long term memory loss from that" he turned slightly looking at Faith "Too bad she's not a droid huh?".

"Beep Bop" echoed right behind the dark haired Slayer, causing her to nearly fall over as she tried to turn and move away at the same time.

Floating several feet off the ground was a small ball shaped droid, Faith smiled at the cute little thing "Oh, hey there".

The alien smiled at the interaction, mildly amused at Faith's reaction "Anyway, I'll humour you general, I was one of the Iridonian Mechanic Corps that was at Malachor, Bao-Dur?".

Faith recognized the name and turned to look at him, he was the one Chodo Habat told them about.

"I can see how you'd forget, being that I was the only one" he joked.

Shayla smiled "I remember now, it's been along time".

"Yeah, just to be clear I'd rather not talk about the war if we could. We all went through some tough times after Malachor, and maybe we all did a little forgetting. Guess that's one thing we got better than droids, they can't forget anything, but then you give them a memory wipe and they forget for good" he added.

Shayla nodded, then turned to their friends "How are they?".

"The pilots fine, the old lady, well she's tougher than she looks, the small one is more or less unharmed but your man there is in serious condition, he needs more attention than we can do here" he moved to check on Xander, maybe just to confirm his own assessment "You know General, I never thought I'd see you again. Galaxies a big place, and this is the last place I thought I'd run into you".

"We were told we might be able to find our ship down here" Shayla said, answering his unspoken question.

Bao-Dur nodded as he continued to check Xanders wounds "Well, if your ships in as bad shape as this one" he pointed at the shuttle "I don't think your going to have much luck".

A moan from Atton caught their attention "Well, this is familiar, feels like my last time on Telos" he grunted as he tried to stand up.

"Crashed a shuttle then too?" Bao-Dur asked with a rather sly grin.

"Nope, Pazaak" Atton chuckled as he rubbed his neck.

"That was not the most pleasant landing I've endured, Next time, we should perhaps seek out a more reputable pilot" Kreia remarked as she too stood up.

"Your welcome Kreia. You know, if I weren't such a crack pilot, we could have hit that shield wall or one of those rock faces" he snapped as he gestured behind Faith.

She turned to see what he was pointing at, stopping as she saw the shield wall, a shimmering field of energy that stretched across the landscape, the other side was like a vision of what hell would have looked like, in fact, it reminded her of the hell mouth and the battle with the army of Turok'Han.

"Jesus" she whispered.

"Yes, our current situation is a vast improvement" Kreia snapped back to Atton, both of them ignoring faith's reaction as well as the view.

Shayla stepped between the two of them "Look, we should get going before Czerka's mercs show up".

Bao-Dur shook his head "Their probably already on their way".

"What?" Faith asked.

"I had a little run in with Czerka that involved me ending up in a force cage, I managed to escape during an electrical malfunction, so far, I've managed to avoid them" he explained.

"What caused the malfunction?" Shayla asked.

The Zabrak shrugged his shoulders "Something went wrong underground, the ruins used to be some sort of military research facility, and something reactivated it's defences. Two salvage teams never came back, so Czerka sent in a merc team, later, one merc bugged out with military droids on his heels, they started shooting up the place".

Faith moved to check on Dawn, who was still unconscious, a dark black bruise was starting to form under her left eye, she guessed her eye would likely swell up within the hour "What do you think happened?" she asked as she continued to check for other wounds.

"I don't know, I was already locked up, they thought the salvage teams accidentally turned something on, but I don't believe it. The power was blown out in the fight, that's when I got away" he smiled at the thought "They sent a pursuit team after me, but most of them we're busy trying to re-secure the compound".

A hand snapped over Faith's wrist, she looked down to see Dawn staring up at her "You really suck at being a nurse" she said.

"Glad your awake kiddo" she smiled "Everyone's good for the most part, cept Xan, he really needs some help".

Dawn glanced up at the Zabrak "Hi, nice spikes" she smiled.

"Bao-Dur" he smiled, catching the hint that she had never seen his species before.

"Race or name?" she asked as Faith helped her up.

"That would be my name, my people are called Zabrak" he explained.

"Oh, the guy Chodo told us about" she smiled.

Atton interrupted "We should think about how were going to find the Ebon Hawk".

Shayla nodded "We have no idea of where to look however".

Bao-Dur smiled "I can help you find it, I have access to the shield network. I came hoping to repair whatever damage your shuttle took, but not even I can fix that wreck".

Faith moved over to Xander, "We'll need to make a stretcher for him, then we can go".

Shayla nodded, the group split up to search for anything they could use to transport the shaggy haired JedI, Dawn and Atton meanwhile salvaged their gear from the shuttle.

Within minutes they had constructed a stretcher for Xander and took stock of their remaining supplies and gear.

Faith commented on Bao-Dur's lack of armour and weapons, then remedied that fact by tossing him a suit of armour taken from one of the two mercs she humiliated, Bao-Dur smirked "How ironic, Zabrak Combat Armour".

Faith smiled and held up two different blasters "What's your choice?".

The Zabrak nodded to the rifle in her right hand "The standard Blaster will do, the other is a Carbine, a lot less accurate".

Faith nodded and tossed him the rifle, along with a few power packs, then stuffed the carbine back into the knapsack purchased back at the station.

She was squaring everything away when she spotted the bag with the Sith Lightsabers "Hey Guys, we forgot about the sabers we took from those Dark JedI".

Shayla quickly approached "Hm" she said as she grabbed one and examined it "Standard mass production weapon" she turned it on, the crimson blade stretched out only three feet.

"A short saber, typically use in the off-hand" she said.

Dawn joined her and grabbed one as well, it was also a short blade "What's the damage difference between the ones you made and these?".

"These are much better quality, not as good as custom JedI saber but definitely superior" she explained.

Dawn nodded "Can I see that one?".

Shayla handed her the weapon, Dawn moved off a few meters and activated them both, then began a standard practise Kata, trying to get a feel for the weapons.

Faith watched her twirl around "I keep forgetting that she has your training locked up in her brain, Xander too for that matter" she said as Dawn continued, her two crimson blades dancing around her, she even flipped a few times, Faith wanted to applause but held herself back, a time and place for smart ass comments, this wasn't one of them.

Shayla took the other four and smiled "Faith, try this out".

Faith looked at the weapon she was holding out, it was longer than the ones Dawn was practising with and had a focusing lens on both ends "Is that what I think it is?".

Shayla nodded "Normally only JedI should carry a saber, you however are a natural and we are going to need every advantage we can get".

Faith smiled as she took the weapon and took a cue from Dawn, moving a few meters away she turned it on, two three foot blades erupted, the crimson glow gave her a rather uncomfortable feeling for some reason, but she forced It down and swung it around a few times, her own practise movements were no where near as extravagant as dawn's however, mostly because her Slayer essence allowed her to get a feel for any weapon with a few seconds.

She stopped and spotted Shayla turn on the two of the three remaining weapons, both were full sized sabers, except one was Violet, not crimson.

Shayla frowned, turning the Violet blade off and tucking in her belt "This one is a JedI blade, not a Sith" she said "It was also the one that hurt Xander".

Faith saw the look of worry on the womans face "So that one goes to boy-wonder when he wakes up" she smirked.

Shayla caught the meaning behind faith's comment and smiled "I think that would be appropriate".

She looked to the last one and picked it up, again it was a standard blade, she turned to Kreia who was meditating near Xander "Kreia?" she said holding up the two weapons.

The mysterious woman shot her a disgusted look "I will not suffer such a weapon, if and when I choose a weapon, it will be of my own construction, until then the Sword will suffice" she then closed her eyes again.

Shayla nodded and turned then both off, then attached them to her belt for easy access.

Faith moved to the next bag, spying a few blaster pistols, one of them caught her eye "What kind of blaster is this?"

Shayla nodded, "A Mandalorian Blaster, good weapon, excellent balance and accuracy".

Faith felt the weapon in her hand, it felt like it fit her hand like it was crafted for her, she fished out a few power packs and a holster, then anchored it to her belt.

"Gonna have to invest in a thigh holster" she said as she looked down at the weapon.

Atton turned the corner "Whoa!. Dangerous woman with a Lightsaber and a Blaster!" he smirked "Remind me to not get in your way".

Faith rolled her eyes, "So, we ready to get moving?" she asked Shayla.

The blonde JedI looked around "Everything's packed up, Xander's ready to go, yeah, I think we're good to go".

"Good, cause I wanna break something" Faith smiled and moved to help carry Xander.

**Elsewhere….**

Giles watched from the safety of a large group of bushes as the military members of their team moved forward, he had to give Buffy credit for actually allowing the three men to do their thing, normally she would be leading the charge.

Buffy slipped up next to him "How's the view?" she asked.

Giles didn't look away from the fading shapes of their team mates "So far so good, I just hope that the technology of this Galaxy cannot pick up the communication sets Lieutenant O'Neill supplied us with".

Buffy nodded "Yeah that would be bad".

"I have to hand it too you Buffy, you're acting very professionally" he commented.

"Okay, I admit I can be the stubborn Slayer on most days, but if theirs one thing I learned it's that men like to feel like their in control, if letting them scout ahead gives them the comfort they need to let me actually lead the group then so be it" she smiled.

Giles could read her like a book "Cari and Shannon are watching their flanks aren't they?".

Buffy said nothing, yet her smile intensified.

"_Summers, this is Finn, come in"_ echoed over their headsets, Buffy reached up and touched the earpiece.

"Go ahead" she smiled.

_"Our friend was right on the money, we have a large compound, seven buildings of different sizes spread across the grounds, one large landing pad with what appears to be two defence turrets, hostiles number four zero, we got five setting up what looks like a mine field near an excavated entrance"_ Riley reported.

"Copy that" she said "Pull back, we'll wait for darkness".

Willow moved to join the two of them, "Buffy, their not far now, I'm guessing only a few miles".

"Can you get a feel for which direction their heading?" Giles asked.

"Right for us, and that base" she said quietly.

Buffy frowned "Not good" she looked at her watch "Our friend said night falls in two hours, if their only a few miles off they'll likely be here before then".

"They wouldn't attack a base during daylight would they?" Willow asked.

"I don't know, all we know is that Dawn and Xander are with at least one other person, Faith did mention that they made a few friends but a lot of time has passed since I talked with her, things might have changed" Buffy said, sitting back against a stump.

Giles began to clean his glasses, a sure sign that he had an idea, or he was confused.

"What's up Giles?" Buffy asked.

He put his glasses back on before speaking "We can either move around the base and try to meet up with them, or we can stay here, set up a fortified position to support an assault, if I know Xander he'll take the base, or try to at least".

"Soldier boy again…" Buffy sighed "I keep forgetting he has those memories".

"At least we know he'll at least try to use some tactics, with our three companions and their experience we'll have an idea of how he might try to assault the base" Giles reasoned.

"We can only hope" Buffy said.

**Next Chapter: The two groups of heroes meet, Things are said, Things are done, bad guys get their butt's kicked and many cheesy one-liners are enjoyed by all :D**

**With that said, a few clarifications are in order. For those that know the game, Master Lonna Vash dies on Korriban…will she still die?. And, how does she recognize the faces of the scoobies?.**

**Heh, I always wanted to type something like that teehee!.**

**Chapter two in a day or two.**


	2. Chapter 2

-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

Bao-Dur moved quickly up the incline and dropped to his stomach as he neared the top, Atton was right behind him and did the same, the two of them crawled the last few feet to peer over the ledge at the next valley beyond.

Atton felt someone grab his boot, looking back he smiled at the sight of Dawn also laying on her stomach.

"Mind moving over?" she asked.

He just smiled and shifted over a foot to let her slide up between the two of them, Bao-Dur handed a pair of binoculars to her, or what she called binoculars anyway.

"Damn, five mercs" she said as she scanned the opposite side of the valley.

Boa-Dur nodded "Right were we need to go, they also have a sentry droid, we move into the valley and they'll know we're coming".

Atton sighed "Just great".

"They were probably looking for me when they spotted your shuttle going down" the Zabrak said quietly.

"We could try handing the Zabrak here over, you know, a bargaining chip?" he smiled wryly.

Dawn glared at him for a second before realizing that he was joking, she shook her head and scanned the valley again.

"Don't forget who shot you down in the first place" Bao-Dur shot back.

Atton smiled "Good point, Forget I said anything".

"Guys, we got a problem, several more speeders coming down the valley, six men, all heavily armed" Dawn added and passed the device to Atton.

Bao-Dur growled "I find it strange that so many would be out looking for me".

Dawn patted his shoulder "Take it as a sign of respect, that they need so many dangerous killers to find you" she smiled and then slid back down the embankment.

Dawn moved carefully down the thirty foot slope, to where Faith, Shayla, Kreia and Xander awaited, thankfully her favourite carpenter had awoken during the last hour but he was still in no condition to fight, even though he insisted he was fine.

"Eleven mercs, one sentry droid, right were Bao-Dur says we need to go" she said to the group as she drew closer.

"Shouldn't be too difficult" Faith winked as she checked on Xanders bandages.

Shayla smiled "We need to be careful, Eleven mercs would be able to cut us down before we reached them".

Xander winced from Faith's tender touch "Ack!" he glared at her.

Kreia ignored the man's outburst "Regardless of what we do, we should do it.." the woman stopped speaking suddenly, and looked around cautiously.

Faith hesitated as she checked Xanders last bandage, she in turn glanced to Kreia.

Dawn had caught the whole exchange "Okay guys, what's up?".

Kreia spoke first "Twice now I have felt a powerful presence in the force, a consciousness if you will, I believe we are not alone on this world".

Shayla stood quickly "Is this presence dangerous?. Maybe a Sith Lord?".

Kreia shook her head "I do not know" she looked down as if lost in thought "Whoever it is, has a strong understanding of the force, they were capable of feeling the life energies on the station".

Shayla's face lost several shades of colour "How is that possible?".

"I know not" the old woman said quietly.

Dawn meanwhile hadn't taken her eyes off of Faith, who was trying to remain innocuous to everyone's attention, she thought about it for a moment and realized that the dark haired Slayer knew exactly what was going on, she also knew that Faith would have mentioned something sooner if she felt it was a threat, the only person who could have that much power..

"Willow" she said out loud.

Faith paused again, except a small smile flashed at the corners of her mouth.

"What?" Shayla asked.

Dawn had to think quickly, if it was willow, then she likely contacted Faith, now assuming that was the case, Faith would have come forward, unless she had a damn good reason not too.

"Only one person I can think of with that much power" she deliberately smiled at Xander instead of Faith, hoping to draw the attention away from her, she would talk to her later.

Xander smiled briefly "It makes sense".

Faith nodded "Damn girl is pretty freaky with the magic".

Shayla stepped forward, Kreia right next to her "Who is this Willow?".

Dawn smiled "One of our closest friends, damn powerful Wicca, almost destroyed our world, till Xander saved her from herself".

Kreia frowned "This does not bode well, such power is sure to attract our enemies".

"Still, if it's Willow, you can bet she's not alone" Dawn added.

"Buffy, maybe even Giles and a few Slayers" Xander nodded.

Faith actually looked towards the younger Summers, smiling with a silent 'Thank you'.

Dawn nodded to her but covered it up quickly "Trust me, if any big bad comes after willow, she won't be easy to take down, with Wills and Buffy watching our backs I pity anyone looking for trouble".

"What's a Wicca?" Shayla asked.

Dawn thought about how to explain it "Wicca, well, it's a religion, the worship of mother earth, the practise of magic, rituals, spells, the ability to manipulate the energies around you…kind of like the force" she started to babble, then smiled "Actually, it just might be the force, we call it magic, but it just might be the same thing".

Kreia nodded slowly "If your friend is as powerful as you say, I highly recommend we reach her, before she tries to extend her awareness again, it may very well lead our enemies to us, regardless of her power, I dread the thought of us being caught unaware, and unprepared".

Dawn caught a look on Faith's face that she found puzzling, she didn't dwell on it though, there would be time later to question the Slayer, for she was almost sure now that Faith had known what was going on "Then, we need to come up with a plan".

Xander raised an eyebrow "The mercs would have communications and uniforms, right?".

Everyone looked at him slightly confused, the sound of their newest ally pierced the silence "Now that just might work".

Everyone turned to see Bao-Dur and Atton sliding down the slope, the Zabrak slung his blaster rifle under his shoulder "With the com unit, and access to their speeders, we could bypass most of the patrols and maybe, just maybe slip inside the compound before anyone realized what was happening".

"Then what?" Shayla asked.

Xander piped up again "With the com unit, we could declare a medical emergency, then rip into the compound, if we do it right, most, if not a good portion of the mercs would be deployed out to where their 'Patrol'" he emphasized "Encountered an unknown enemy, only thing is, what kind of enemy are they going to encounter?".

Dawn smiled as a thought hit her "How about us?".

Faith laughed maniacally "Now that's just too sweet!".

Even Shayla smiled "It could work".

"This seems like a risky plan to me" Atton said as he sat down "On the other hand, it's a plan, something we didn't have a few minutes ago".

Shayla nodded "Very true, so then I guess the next thing we need to figure out, is how we're going to take out those mercs, without them setting off an alarm, or calling for reinforcements".

Kreia stepped forward "Maybe we should let them call for reinforcements".

Shayla looked to her mentor for a few seconds and then nodded "I believe that might work" she looked to the rest of the group "Atton and Bao-Dur can act as fire support from the ridge here, while the rest of us move along the edge of the valley, at a specific signal you two begin the attack, then we'll hit their flank".

Faith shook her head "Xander should stay here".

"No way" he said quickly "Slap another few bandages on me, I'll be fine, we kick some ass and then take any medpacks they have".

"Xander your seriously freakin hurt, you had a freakin light saber shoved through your back!" Faith exclaimed.

"Guys, bad guys right over the hill!" Dawn said quietly, though the tone of her voice was anything but calm.

"Sorry" they both said in unison.

Shayla nodded "Faith, I know Xander is in bad shape, but he's a Guardian, his ability to force jump would be an asset, if this plan is going to work".

"Just cause he can jump a few meters, don't mean shit to me if he get's killed" she hissed.

Kreia touched Faith lightly on the shoulder "I have witnessed apprentice Guardians jump the length of a hangar bay, I would not be surprised if Xander could jump fifty meters with no difficulty".

Faith was truly shocked by her description "Fifty..?".

Kreia nodded then stepped back a few feet.

Xander gently gripped Faiths chin with his finger and thumb "Hey, I can do this".

Faith nodded slowly, causing him to let go "All right, but if you get killed, I'm desecrating your grave".

Dawn frowned "I don't like it either, but Shayla and Kreia are right, we'll need every edge we can get to pull this off".

Faith looked up at the tiny JedI "Damn D, you sounded like your sister for a second there".

Xander chuckled "Kinda creepy, but I'm not surprised".

Atton cleared his throat "Okay, so that's covered, now I think we need to figure out what we're going to do, once we're inside the base".

Bao-Dur nodded "No question there, I make my way to the nearest terminal and access the facilities defences, if we move fast enough, and if my access codes are still working I can turn the defence turrets against the remaining mercs".

"What about those who leave the base?. It won't take them long to figure out they were tricked" Dawn said.

Shayla shook her head "We'll have to figure that out once we're inside, and we've secured the base".

Xander nodded and forced himself to stand, Faith instantly moved to help him, since she was the closest, he didn't object "All right, we should do this before we loose the advantage of daylight".

"Shouldn't we do this after nightfall?" Atton asked.

Shayla moved next the her apprentice "Xander is right, this needs to be done now, before we're discovered, besides, only you have the advantage of seeing in the dark with that Targeting visor".

"Point taken" he shrugged.

Faith sighed "All right, if we're going to do this, let's do this".

Dawn nodded "Lead the way Slayer" she winked.

**Not Far Away…**

Willow listened to the various conversations around her, as she meditated, she found it strangely difficult to center herself in this Galaxy, or maybe it was just this world, it felt broken here, like the planet's energies had been completely shattered and the pieces were just recently being put back together.

When she reached out to sense Faith the first time she had used her own reserves, her own life's essence, the second time she actually opened herself up to the planet, and almost threw up from the feel of the energy she tapped into.

That wasn't the only thing that bothered her, she could have sworn that on both occasions a foreign presence had detected her attempt to locate Faith, that could only mean there was a very powerful Witch nearby, she could only hope that they were friendly.

"Hey Wills" Buffy whispered "You okay?".

Willow opened her eyes, "yeah, I'm just trying to get a feel for the planets energies, I've never thought about the possibility of using magic on another world before".

"Oh" her best friend said "So how's it going?".

Willow sighed "Not so good, this planet is not healthy".

Buffy looked around in confusion "With all these tree's and stuff, I thought the planet was kinda nice".

"Yeah, it's kind of strange, the trees, and, well everything, have a different feel to them, like they were moved here, from another world" she explained.

Buffy frowned "Is this going to affect magicky willow?".

The red head smiled "I don't think so, but just in case, I'm going to go easy on the magic".

Buffy smiled "You're the expert, if you think that's best, I won't argue".

At that moment O'Neill moved into the small clearing "Summers, the comm unit we took from our friend, we're getting something".

Buffy moved over to make room, O'Neill dropped to one knee, his chosen weapon still clasped to his webvest, he called it an Intar, which was strange since it looked more like a Submachine gun.

He held up the small hand held comm device ".._This is Samek, I repeat, we are taking fire…4628 by 241, we need immediate support over!"_.

Buffy raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"_..Copy that, Kaymin and Zeyral are being dispatched, ETA is four minutes"_ Another voice replied.

Everyone heard Riley's voice echo through their headsets "_Heads up, twenty hostiles are leaving the base, I repeat, twenty hostiles are leaving the base"._

Buffy touched her headset "Copy that, hold position, I think our Boy is making his move".

Willow smirked at her friends different speech, she lightly punched her in the shoulder "Look at you, all army Buffy now".

The blonde slayer opened her mouth to speak when the mercenary communicator echoed again.

"_..We can't hold our position, we're pulling back…prepare for wounded.."_.

Everyone noticed that the voice seemed different.

"_..Negative Samek, hold your position!…Reinforcements are on their way!"_.

"_..Negative, Damn JedI are everywhere, I've lost half my men.., prep for wounded, we're coming in hot!"._

Buffy smiled "Sounds like our people are kicking some ass, if we hit the base now we'll only have twenty mercs and a few wounded to deal with, then we can lend a hand to Xander, Dawn and Faith".

O'Neill nodded "Sounds good to me, we've got the high ground, we can at least pin down the remaining forces, give your people out there a chance to break through those reinforcements".

Riley's voice echoed over the headset's again "_Looks like four of those bikes are coming in, two men per bike, fourth has one rider, looks like wounded….five are heading for one of the buildings, two are being carried, other two are heading for the landing pad"._

Buffy frowned "They said that reinforcements were four minutes away right?".

O'Neill nodded "Those wounded sure made good time".

"Coincidence?" she asked.

"Maybe, maybe not" he smiled.

Buffy tapped the ear piece "Riley, what are the two on the landing pad doing?".

"_Not sure..wait one…four mercs are heading towards them, holy shit, one of the new arrivals just pulled out two swords…made of …something like fire!" _he exclaimed.

The distant sound of blaster fire echoed throughout the air, "_The merc's have opened fire, and, and.. Can't explain it…the guy with the fire swords is deflecting everything back at them!"._

Buffy looked to Willow and then O'Neill, they all began to run towards the ridgeline where everyone else was waiting.

"Everyone with ranged weapons give those two cover fire, anyone else with similar swords are also friendly!" she said into her mic as she ran.

The sound of Blaster fire and Zat blasts could be heard only a few meters ahead of them, they all reached the top in time to see the tiny figure on the landing pad deflecting everything shot towards them away, half the blasts were heading back towards the mercs, the second figure appeared to be working at a computer terminal.

The impressive part of the display, was that the dual sword wielding figure was even deflecting the turret fire away.

That was when they all noticed five individuals burst from a building on the far side of the base, three were armed with the same fire swords as the warrior on the landing pad, one began to fire from the building entrance, obviously using the doorway for cover, the last wielding a standard sword.

Buffy noticed that one of the fire swords was purple, not red, she then spotted the same warrior leap nearly thirty feet, his or her blade slashed through a mercenary like he wasn't even their, he/she then proceeded to tear his way into an approaching group of six mercenaries.

Right behind him, she was almost sure it was a him from the way he moved, was a warrior with a different red fire sword, it looked like a double blade, and she moved slightly to the man's right to engage a smaller group of five mercenaries, she however wasn't attacking with the same deadly intent, her strikes were meant to disarm and incapacitate.

"Cover her" she ordered "That's gotta be Faith".

Riley and Graham both swung their Blasters towards the brunette slayer and began to fire at any merc around her.

Buffy pulled her own Vibro Swords and smiled "Cari, Shannon, join those two!" she said as she leaped off the ravine edge, her destination being the landing pad.

The next few seconds were the most terrifying of her life, as energy blasts streaked by her, at first from behind her, but within seconds from the base as well, she easily avoided them however as she ran down the steep slope, then jumped towards a single story building as she neared the bottom, performing a perfect flip before landing.

She didn't stop however, rolling back onto her feet she took another leap, this time towards the landing pad, landing low, she automatically rolled with the momentum she had gained, and joined the fight with her two swords leading the way.

She had just flanked the mercenaries that were shooting at the two near the computer terminal, her swords cutting through their weapons easily, she followed up every attack with kicks and elbows, she didn't want to kill these guys, not yet at least.

Within a few seconds the fight on the landing pad was over, she quickly looked around and confirmed that every merc, the original four and the four who joined them, were dead or unconscious.

The two defence turrets spun to face her, she felt her blood run cold, but then she realized they didn't fire, she sighed in relief as the figure with the two swords moved closer.

"Buffy?" she heard over her shoulder.

Spinning she spotted the face of her little sister, smiling at her as she held the two crimson red blades like they were an extension of herself, Buffy smiled wide and said the only thing she could think of "Sorry we're late".

The expression on Dawn's face changed, from the smile of the sister she remembered, to a look that sent a chill down her spine "Buffy down!".

Buffy dropped and rolled before she could even think about it, covering several meters, she rolled back to her feet, blades at the ready and stopped at the sight of her little sister cleaving through two mercs, who had somehow appeared behind her, those two crimson blades cut through their armour like nothing, they both fell over, very dead.

Buffy couldn't speak, she didn't know what to think, the sight of her little sister, her little Dawnie killing two men so quickly, so efficiently, scared her more than anything she had ever experienced, even facing the First Evil didn't compare.

Dawn's shoulders slumped slightly a second later, she slowly turned back towards her, Dawn's eyes closed for a second as she took a deep breath, when she opened her eyes, she saw her sister again.

"Better late than never" Dawn said hesitantly.

Buffy shook off the shock, the fear, and simply rushed forward to embrace her sister, her swords dropped to the landing pad, clanging from the impact.

"Oh god Dawnie, I'm never letting you go again!" she growled.

Surprisingly Dawnie didn't pull back, even from the amount of force the Slayer was using, in fact Dawn pulled her older sister close and hugged her with a strength she never expected to feel.

"Don't ever let go" she heard her whisper.

The embrace seemed to drag on forever, a Familiar voice cut through the two of them however "Aww, it's a Kodak moment, quick, someone get me a tissue".

Both women turned and stared at Faith through tear filled eyes, rather surprised to see the dark haired Slayer just as teary eyed.

"Shut up and get over here!" Buffy ordered.

Faith surprised them both by doing as she was told, wrapping her arms around both women.

"Look, I don't want to ruin such a touching moment, but any minute now we're gonna have another twenty, very pissed off mercs tearing through that pass, looking for something to rip apart" Buffy heard someone say.

Both Faith and Dawn pulled back, both looked towards a rather attractive looking man holding two blaster pistols, and wearing a strange visor that seemed way to large for his face.

"Atton's right" Faith said.

"I managed to take control of the facilities Defence Turrets, that should help" she heard another voice say, she wasn't prepared for the face that stood only a few feet from her.

The tall rather large man with spikes protruding from his skull smiled "Bao-Dur".

Buffy smiled weakly, at least he didn't set off her slayer senses "Buffy".

"A pleasure" he nodded, then hefted a blaster rifle and turned to another woman who had just joined the group "We should take defensive positions General".

Buffy looked to the woman, sizing up the tall blonde woman, her presence was definitely noticeable "Bao-Dur's right, we should save the introductions for later".

Buffy nodded, "We can help with that" she touched her ear piece "Guys, move along the ridge to cover the pass, we've got incoming".

She then turned to the tall blonde, the feeling she got from the woman was unmistakable, she had control here "Where do you want us?" she asked as both Caridad and Shannon moved to join her.

She barely noticed the looks of shock on Dawn and Faith's faces at the sight of their two friends, she was paying more attention to the woman Bao-Dur called General.

"Dawn, Xander and I will take the pass, we'll intercept them as they come through, it's narrow, I figure only two speeders at most will come through, I assume you moved your people over there?" she asked as she pointed towards the ridge that overlooked the pass.

Buffy just nodded.

"Good" she turned to Atton and Bao-Dur "Give us cover fire, use the building for cover".

Buffy smiled "Faith and I will join you on the frontline" she turned to Cari and Shannon "Join Atton and Bao-Dur, use your Zat's".

Both Slayers nodded, the looks on their faces showed how much they wanted to be up front with her but they both knew better than to argue.

"If you don't mind?" she quickly asked the General.

"Shayla Kracek, and no, I don't mind at all" she smiled.

Then she spotted Xander limp slowly up the ramp "Guys, heart warming moment later, kick bad guy butt's now" the pain in his voice was unmistakable.

Buffy stepped forward only to find two set's of hands stop her, she looked to find both Faith and Dawn shaking their head, she glanced back to Xander, only to see him limping back down the ramp, his purple sword still lighting the area.

"I hope you guys know what your doing" she stated, not asked.

Faith nodded "Trust me B, you've just witnessed X-man's Resolve face".

Buffy gave both her sister's one last smile before heading down the ramp, intending to stay right next to Xander the entire time, she looked over to faith, catching her eye, then motioning towards Dawn with her eyes, her sister Slayer smiled in understanding.

Upon reaching the mouth of the pass, she noticed another woman join them, a robed older woman, wielding only a sword, her other hand was tucked into the long sleeve, no one seemed to object to her presence though.

Something about the woman nagged the back of her mind though, something was just off about her, but the sound of several engines growing closer brought her back to the task at hand.

Kicking some mercenary ass.

Thirty seconds later, the sound of blasters and Zat's firing, echoed from above, a few seconds later two speeders sped around the narrow rock face, two mercs on each.

She watched as Xander somehow leaped towards them, his legs pulled tight against his chest, and purple blade stretched above him, he was nearly five feet in the air when he twisted his weapon, and brought it straight down, and through the front of the speeder to their right, it began to spin towards the ground but stopped as it ploughed into the earth, with the two mercs under it.

He landed easily, and brought his weapon up for the next two, she watched the tall blonde, Shayla, perform a similar leap, except she twirled in the air, before striking out with her two crimson blades, beheading the pilot and severing the weapon arm of the mercenary behind him.

The speeder arced into the air slightly, and sailed past the defenders into the base behind them, she ignored it and forced herself to focus on the pass, knowing more speeders were coming.

The next two sped forward a second later, both Xander and Shayla rolled clear, just as Dawn and Faith surged forward, her sister twirled between the two speeders, bringing one of her shorter red blades down across the front of the speeder, while the other swung upwards through the rear, sparks showered across the area as the speeder also began to spin, like the first, only this time it too joined the second speeder as it flew over her head into the base behind them.

Faith however, leaped straight up, forsaking the dual crimson blade, she simply drop kicked the pilot, her kick combined with the speed the vehicle was traveling at, was enough to literally stop the pilot and his passenger in mid air, the speeder kept going, dropping to the ground just enough to skip slightly, it continued on passed her as it slowly skidded to a stop.

Buffy knew somehow that she and the old woman were next, it was an instinctual feeling, she heard the next two speeders, she rushed forward, barely aware of Faith and Dawn moving clear, the old woman to her right.

The two vehicles, and four mercenaries were as unprepared for the type of defence they were flying towards.

She leaped straight up and flipped, twisting in the air right above the speeder, and landed right behind the passenger, she locked her legs down but still felt the strain from such a sudden change of direction, without hesitating she grabbed both the passenger and pilot, and proceeded to smash their heads together before pushing them off, she then reached out and gripped the controls, surprised to see they were actually handle bars.

Sliding forward, she somehow found the brake as she cranked the steering to the right, the speeder literally spun on a dime, and hovered a few feet off the ground.

She saw the second speeder crash into a building to her right, no pilot or passenger however, whatever the old woman had done was effective.

She looked towards the pass and knew another two speeders would be rounding the corner any second, she smiled slightly as she gunned the engine, feeling the speeder pick up speed, her slayer senses kicked in, and the world around her slowed down.

She somehow maintained control of the vehicle as she raced towards the narrow pass, racing right over Xander and Shayla as they moved to take the next two speeders, Buffy had an idea and she really wanted to try it out.

Turning slightly she sped down the pass, two speeders only a few meters ahead of her, she did have a slightly higher position thanks to the speed she was travelling at, so she didn't think she'd collide with them, she did however performed a scissor kick, catching both pilots right in the face.

She then focused on the last two speeders ahead of her, knowing the two she just passed were likely ploughing into the rock face behind her.

Blaster fire and Zat blasts rained down from above, but they seemed to keep missing the speeders and their occupants, they were just moving too fast.

The last two however, reacted fast enough to apply their brakes, it was the worst move they could have made as the fire from above managed to hit them, without speed or a conscious pilot they simply dropped to the earth.

Buffy applied the brakes to her own speeder and looked up, She spotted a few dark shapes wave down at her, she waved back and then turned the speeder around, returning to the former mercenary base at a much more leisurely pace.

Upon turning the last bend, she spotted both Xander and Dawn smiling at her, she slowed the speeder down and managed to find the off switch, the vehicle dropped the last two feet with a thud, it was jarring, but it wasn't as bad as some of the mercs had experienced.

"She can't drive a car, but a speeder she can handle just fine, who'da thunk it" Xander said as he leaned on Faith.

Buffy smiled "Can I keep it?".

Shayla stepped forward, the old woman right next to her "You are a Slayer, like Faith?".

Faith laughed, effectively interrupting Buffy's response "B here is the Original Slayer, I got nothing on her".

That caught Buffy off guard, she'd never heard Faith admit that anything like that before "Don't sell yourself short Faith, I've just got a few more years on you".

Xander punched Faith in the arm "Yeah, listen to the girl".

Faith blushed slightly, bringing a smile to Buffy's face, at least the girl still didn't know how to take a compliment.

"Anyway, I think we should do quick introductions, then you guys can fill us in on the what's what" Buffy said, noticing both Xander and Dawn's confused faces.

Dawn nodded "Just to be clear, we're not leaving, not yet anyway".

Buffy caught the look on Faith's face, 'She didn't tell them, why?' she thought "No problem" she smiled, still sitting on her new favourite toy "The magic that brought us here, well, let's just say this is gonna be my vacation".

Xander shook his head "Just when you have her figured" he trailed off, not bothering to finish the sentence.

"You..I mean, your not here to rescue us?" Dawn asked.

Buffy saw that look on Faith's face again, "Long story Dawnie, short version however, is we're kinda stuck here for a year".

Xander laughed, then grabbed his chest, he was in obvious pain "Oh..that sucked, no more laughing Xander, nope, not for a while".

"Serves ya right for getting skewered through the back" Faith smirked.

Buffy heard those words and literally froze, then she realized that everyone was looking at her "What?".

"You already said that B" Faith said "Though it was more of a high pitched wail".

Xander smiled, not laughing this time "We got jumped by some minions of the big bad, up on the station, I got my ass handed to me" he held up his purple flame sword "By this actually".

"And how are you still standing?" Buffy asked.

"Glue" Xander shot back "Lot's and lot's of glue".

At that moment a familiar squeal interrupted the group from behind them, most of the party, those not used to Willow that is had their weapons at the ready "Dawnie, Xander!".

Both turned to see Willow, with Giles a few feet behind her jogging across the base towards them, both were dressed in amour, obviously taken from fallen mercenaries.

Dawn moved quickly and found herself entangled in a Willow hug "Don't you ever go and get sucked into a mystic portal again, do you understand me!" the red head began babbling.

Dawn just held onto the nearly hyperventilating witch "Yes mom".

Willow nodded as if satisfied for the moment and raced up the short slope towards Xander and Faith, thankfully she noticed how bad the one eyed warrior looked and stopped herself from crushing him with a hug.

Xander saw the worry on her face and reached out, pulling the woman into his arms lightly, "It's okay Wills, I'll be fine, it's good to see ya".

Giles took the opportunity to hug Dawn "I'm glad to see your all alive" he said calmly.

"Glad you could make it" Dawn laughed.

Willow meanwhile had pulled from Xanders grasp, now helping Faith hold him up, Xander smiled to the old librarian "Hey, Gman".

Giles had long ago given up on the name, in fact, he realized only now how much he missed hearing it "Xander" was all he said as he gently embraced the closest man he had to a son.

The next two to intercept the three, were of course, Caridad and Shannon, the two Slayers literally swarmed over Dawn at first.

"Good to see you squirt" Shannon smiled, never having been one for emotional displays.

Dawn nodded "You two Shan, though how you convinced Buffy to let you come has me stumped".

"Long story, took a lot of sparring matches, and many visits to the infirmary" she smiled.

Caridad nodded "I just baked her cookies".

"Cheater" Shannon smiled.

Dawn laughed, she missed the two girls, "Glad to have you both here".

Xander nodded "Yes, many glad people all around, but is someone being forgotten?".

Both girls smiled at Dawn before moving to greet the only man most Slayers looked to as their big brother "Glad your in one piece" Shannon said as she lightly hugged him.

"Well, mostly in one piece" Cari giggled.

Buffy smiled at the reunion, then spotted three more people walking towards them through the base "Took you three long enough" she called out.

The looks on the three formerly missing Scoobies faces, at the sight of Riley Finn and Graham Miller were priceless.

Riley nodded to them as they neared "Hey guys".

Xander smiled "Riley, Graham, surprised to see you guys".

Graham smiled "And miss out on the chance to travel to another Galaxy?".

Dawn spotted the third man, dressed in a set of armour like everyone else, except for the green ball cap and definitely earth made submachine gun "And you'd be?".

The young man smiled, almost a Xander smile "Jonathan O'Neill, team specialist".

"Specialist in what?" Xander asked.

Surprisingly Buffy spoke for him "Classified" she winked at O'Neill, who in turn simply nodded, still smiling.

Everyone noticed as a tall, very well built man with spikes on his head approach the group "General, I've managed to get access to the shield network, I think I've found the most likely place your ship was taken too".

Of the new arrivals, only Buffy, Cari, Shannon and O'Neill didn't stop to stare at the alien, the first three, because they had met him a few minutes before, O'Neill, well, no one had a clue.

Shayla nodded "Very good" she turned to Buffy and her family "I'll let you all get reacquainted, We'll see what Bao-Dur has found out".

Buffy nodded and turned back to Xander and Dawn "So, what's with the new abilities?".

**Thirty minutes later…**

Buffy watched as the group ran around the mercenary compound, Faith and Dawn leading the salvage efforts, they had apparently gotten a lot of practise in the last week.

Xander sat by one of the defence turrets, apparently meditating, the alien Bao-Dur was still busy accessing the only computer terminal in the base, Willow and Giles right next to him, watching him work.

It still seemed stupid to her for a military base to have one terminal, on top of a landing pad of all things.

The scruffy guy, Atton seemed to be doing his best to help out Dawn and Faith, she wasn't sure, but she thought she spotted him looking to Dawn more than a few times, not the kind of looks she wanted a man of nearly thirty to be sending to her little sister anyway, but she decided to leave that alone for the moment.

Shayla, the General, was off with the old woman, Kreia she introduced herself as, discussing some matter the old woman had said was important.

The rest of the team had broken off into groups, Riley, Graham and O'Neill designated first watch and were currently back up on the ridgeline, keeping an eye out for any additional trouble.

Cari and Shannon were just following Dawn and Faiths lead, since they knew nothing about the technology that was scattered around the camp.

That left Buffy with her thoughts, and her observations to ponder over, the veteran Slayer was definitely full of questions, why Faith hadn't told anyone about them coming could wait, she knew Faith would explain it, the really important questions however, was how had Xander and Dawn been granted these new abilities, and why she could see the energy that seemed to connect Xander, Dawn, Shayla and Kreia, what was that energy for that matter.

And why did that energy seem to reach out to others, especially when they fought, though she couldn't see it back during the fight, she knew she felt something, even now she could see slight traces around Atton, and to a lesser extent Bao-Dur, oddly Faith was unaffected.

Something to do with the Slayer essence maybe protected her from what ever it was, she sighed, the only thing she knew was she was out of her league here, this was a totally new game for her, she needed to learn the rules.

So she made a decision, Buffy the leader would be held back for the time being, Shayla was the obvious leader here, the way she moved, talked, even the look in her eyes, she had seen war, she knew how horrifying it could be.

For some strange reason, she found that she trusted the blonde woman, yup, Buffy Summers would let this woman make the choices that needed to be made, within reason anyway.

Dawn and Xander on the other hand, seemed to possess a nearly identical energy, people listened to them both, yet none of them gave orders to contradict each other, they worked as a team.

But the one thing that truly bothered her was how Kreia seemed to slide past her senses one second and set off her senses the next, she knew Faith could feel it consciously, and even Cari and Shannon at least tried to avoid her, they were likely too young to realize that they were doing it.

She would watch the old woman, something about her was just wrong, she was a mystery, and one thing she didn't like was a mystery, it always gave her a headache.

**Next: The group delves into the research facility, slightly AU in the next chapter, the research facility in my story possesses a few surprises not in the game.**

**I really wanted to write in detail the fight at the base, I felt it would be a great practise for writing action scenes, I also tried to keep the reunion as realistic as I could, writing emotional encounters is difficult, I admit this, but I will keep trying. Again thanks for reading, and for those of you who have reviewed. Reviews are needed, good and bad, as long as their constructive or full of divine praise teehee :D.**

**AND!. I am more than willing to accept suggestions, if anyone has an idea on how certain characters should react to another, or a situation. Or anyone has an idea on a plot twist, by all means, let me know.**

**By the way, this story will not be ending at the end of the KOTOR II Game Story line, I have many long term plans for this series.**


	3. Chapter 3

-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

**Polar Region...**

Shayla Kracek felt the frigid wind seep through the very fibre of her being, and knew she was not inside the warmth and safety of the orbital shuttle.

Then her mind filled in the gaps.

They had found a reference within the Research base computer terminal, of an Orbital Shuttle, that might still be within the old Telosian Military Facility.

They had braved the same Facility, dealing with combat droids, defence turrets, and even a massive Tank Droid, it was a hard fight, even rescuing a Czerka Salvage Team survivor.

Unfortunately, the Twi'lek panicked at the sight of the Tank droid, he didn't survive his attempt to flee past it.

But they had found the shuttle, and managed to bring the facility online, most of the group was still back there, getting everything arranged for the shuttles return, or the Ebon Hawk's return, which was the entire reason they had left for the Polar Region.

Only to have the damn shuttle shot out from under them, the last thing she remembered seeing, was a storage locker, rapidly approaching her face.

And now, she was freezing.

Opening her eyes, she instantly realized how bright it was above her, she closed her eyes for a moment but opened them quickly upon hearing a muffled moan, followed by heavy coughing a short distance away.

She lifted her head carefully, spotting a snow covered Xander, slowly pushing himself to his knee's "Xander" she coughed "Are you okay?".

The one eyed JedI nodded as he spat blood onto the white ground "I'll live" he said hoarsely.

"Dawn?" another voice said shakily, she recognized buffy's voice .

"Over here" she heard her other Padawan grunt "Why does everything we fly in seem to get shot down?".

Shayla wanted to laugh, but the pressure in her chest told her that would be a bad idea, she knew the feel of broken ribs, she knew that feeling well.

"Atton, Kreia?" Shayla called out as she slowly rolled over, in order to stand easier without putting anymore stress on her ribs.

"Anyone get an I.D. on that Cruiser?" she heard Atton whine.

Kreia appeared at that moment, standing perfectly normal "Again your piloting skills have been proven less than adequate" she snapped towards Atton.

"Hey" he coughed "Don't blame me, Damn Anti-Aircraft missile caused this!".

"And it did not occur to you to avoid the missile?" she retorted.

"Enough" Shayla growled, reaching for her belt, she relaxed slightly feeling both Light Sabers still attached "Whoever shot us down is likely on their way".

Xander meanwhile had moved a few meters from the shuttle, his left arm clutched tightly to his chest, she wouldn't be surprised to find it broken "Three droids incoming" he said, his one good eye squinted to see through the bright snow glare "HK's, same as Peragus" he added, activating his Violet Saber with his right hand.

Buffy and Dawn were at his side a second later, Buffy pulled her two Vibro Swords, both upgraded back within the Telosian compound, both were now just slightly more dangerous to droids.

Dawn however had yet to activate her two short sabers, she held them loosely in her grasp "Let's go see what they want" her teeth chattering slightly from the chill.

Shayla moved to the side of the ruined shuttle, Atton and Kreia right behind her, sure enough, three HK droids trudged through the knee high snow, as easily as if they were strolling down a street.

"With the snow this deep, they'll have the advantage" Buffy scowled.

"Not for long" Xander said coldly, the shock from his wounded arm likely kept him from feeling the cold.

Shayla took a deep breath, and started walking towards the three approaching droids, stopping when they had closed to about twenty meters.

The lead droid stopped, holding a rather large Disruptor Rifle "Irritated declaration: There you are. It has been extremely difficult to track you down, JedI".

The droid to it's left straightened slightly "Quick Clarification: But now that we have found you, we hope that we can facilitate communications".

The third droid nodded as it adjusted the two heavy blaster pistols it held "Unnecessary Addendum: And put an end…to hostilities".

Buffy chuckled "Wow, you guys sound really funny, ever think about doing stand-up?".

"Any reason why you shot us down?" Shayla asked, hoping they didn't answer her question, you never could be too sure with droids.

The lead droid spoke "Unnecessary Clarification: We merely wished to cripple your vessel. Once we tracked your coordinates, we were able to activate this unit, located nearby.

"Probing Query: We are however, curious as to why you chose to come to the remnants of the Telos polar irrigation system. There is nothing here that our instruments can detect" the second added.

"Eager Threat: But we are looking forward to extracting you motives for coming here, once we place you in torture restraints" the third droid stated.

Shayla opened her mouth to speak but stopped as she felt the force being used, she reacted quickly however, and was already moving across the snow towards the three droids, as Xander force leaped towards the three Droids.

She spotted Dawn to her right in the corner of her vision, so she headed for the droid to the left, they had reached the halfway mark, thanks to a force assisted boost to their speed, just as Xander landed in the snow.

The tall warrior sunk into the snow as his violet blade slashed diagonally across the droids chest, gouging a deep furrow into it's armour.

The droids began to react now, Xanders opponent thrashed out, hoping to knock him back with it's weapon, it missed however, Xander easily ducked the blow, bringing his blade back up and across the droid, exactly along the same gouge he made a second before.

The other two droids each targeted both Dawn and herself, blaster fire ripped towards them, only to be deflected away from both women, unlike previous battles however, none of them were being deflected back towards the enemy, their wounds impairing their ability to focus properly.

Shayla reached her opponent first, flashing out with a flurry attack, both crimson blades arched towards the droid in rapid succession, each strike left behind blackened armour and smoking internal components.

Dawn reached her target a moment later, mimicking Shayla's strike perfectly, her shorter blades were slightly less damaging, but was more than enough to force the droid back.

She felt another presence a second later, and flipped over the battered droid, twisting in mid leap, landing behind it she slashed out again, this time with a double downward slash, her blades sunk through the droids torso nearly six inches at both shoulders, just as Buffy arrived, both swords cutting through the droids head, like a pair of scissors, it twitched once as it fell over into the snow.

The two quickly turned to assess the rest of the battle, Xander was kneeling in the snow, the lead droid a smoking ruin, Dawn standing over the remains of the second.

"I'm thinking I need a vacation" Xander wheezed.

Dawn nodded, but said nothing, her own breaths sounding laboured.

Kreia and Atton reached the group "We need to find shelter quickly" Kreia stated "The droids mentioned an irrigation system, it might be what we were looking for".

Shayla nodded "Groups of two, fan out, we need to find an entrance".

Everyone moved quickly, surprisingly it took less than a minute to find the buried hatch, it wasn't far from the now useless shuttle.

Opening it also seemed too easy, but the warmth that ebbed within the dark interior was too much to resist, the group surged into the darkness one after another.

"Warmth good" Xander shivered, just as the lights came on.

Less than ten feet away, five women, dressed entirely in white, complete with hoods, stood with Force pikes at the ready, the woman in the center stepped forward "Lay down your weapons, and you will not be harmed" she spoke with conviction.

Shayla looked at the five women "Who are you?".

"I will not warn you again. Drop your weapons, or we will, take them from you" the woman stressed.

Kreia placed a hand on her shoulder "Do as they say, I sense we will come to no harm".

Shayla looked to her mentor for a moment, then nodded "Very well, we aren't in any condition to fight anyway".

As the group dropped their weapons onto the floor, the five quickly moved, collecting their gear, and then moved them down one of several corridors.

Shortly down the hallway, Kreia, Atton and Buffy were redirected through a side passage, Shayla, Xander and Dawn were pushed down the first corridor.

"Dawn!" Buffy called out, more than ready to fight to stay with her sister.

"Buffy no!" Dawn quickly said "We'll be fine".

The three quickly lost sight of their friends as they marched towards a large cavernous room, a single large platform suspended above a deep pit.

One other walkway extended from the platform, leading to a large set of doors some distance away, the two women in white stopped.

A few seconds later the large doors parted, a lone figure, also in white emerged, walking steadily down the walkway, both Xander and Dawn noticed their friend and mentor stiffen a moment later as the figure grew close enough, to make out features.

"Atris" Shayla whispered.

The woman, Atris was still nearly fifty feet away as she began to speak, yet her voice easily carried throughout the room.

"I did not expect to see you again after the day of your sentencing. I had thought you had taken the exiles path, wandering the Galaxy, yet you have returned, and not alone I see - Why?" her voice carried a refined tone.

Shayla straighted as much as her broken ribs would allow "What have you done with our friends first?".

Atris slowed as she stepped upon the platform "Your concern is noted…they have been detained, for their own safety. I find it unusual, that you are travelling with others again, especially once trained in the ways of the JedI" she looked to Dawn, and then Xander "Tell me, why do you travel with this Exile?".

Xander winced slightly as he spoke "We aren't exactly JedI".

Atris's eyes narrowed "Sith?. No, I do not feel such darkness within you. It would explain your weapons however".

"No, not Sith" Dawn added quickly "It's a long story actually, and those light sabers, we took them from Dark JedI".

Shayla didn't like the woman's attention focused on her two friends "It was not our…my, intention to come here Atris…or see you again".

"Yet here you are, perhaps you don't know yourself as well as you think. Regardless, your presence here begs an explanation" Atris said, her voice full of suspicion "Have you come to face the judgement of the council, as you did so many years ago?. Are you finally willing to admit that we were right to cast you out?".

"I'm not here to debate the council's decision" Shayla sighed wearily.

"Indeed" Atris said in surprise "Your Exile seems to have given you some wisdom it seems. So then, answer me, how did you find this place?. And why have you returned after all this time?".

"We are searching for our ship, so we can leave Telos" Shayla answered.

"Your ship..Ah, the Ebon Hawk. It is not your ship. Unless, you are admitting to the destruction of the Peragus mining facility" she insinuated.

Dawn's mouth dropped open "That was an accident!".

"Ah..an accident, Something beyond your control" she smiled.

"Yes Atris, it was an accident" Shayla nodded, again trying to draw her attention from Dawn.

"You have not changed" she hissed "Acting instead of thinking, Putting yourself before the Galaxy, before the JedI".

Xander stepped forward, his broken arm still clutched to his chest "New flash lady!. The Sith destroyed Peragus, and now we're under their crosshairs, and don't for one second think you can sit their and pass judgement on us".

Shayla spun quickly "Mind your emotions Xander" she said coolly.

Atris apparently paid Xanders outburst little attention "The Sith, explain what you mean".

Shayla nodded "The Sith have returned…and their hunting all JedI".

"You speak the truth" Atris responded after a few seconds "I can feel the scars on you all. You encountered them on Peragus?".

Dawn spoke again "And on Citadel Station. They tracked us down, their intention was to kill us, and all JedI".

"They followed you…." she said quietly "There are no more JedI…except I. Like you" she stared directly into Shayla's eyes "Those still alive, have turned from the order, and now only I remain. If these Sith attacked you, they will soon realize their mistake..".

"If you're a JedI, I'm damn happy I'm just a carpenter" Xander snapped.

This time Atris did not ignore him "Your anger proves how inexperienced you are. Trained by the Exile I assume" she smiled.

"Not like we had a choice" he said coldly.

Atris hesitated "You…were awoken, through force?".

Shayla stepped into the conversation "We, don't know how it happened, somehow, they have a strong connection to the force, as well as my training" she said "They did not ask for this to happen, yet they have not once chosen to ignore the threat that seeks to destroy us, since the moment I met them, they have stood by me and others, judge me if you will Atris, but my crimes are not theirs".

"Screw that" Xander coughed "You judge her, you can judge me too, looks like you already have anyway".

Atris hesitated, obviously thinking of what both of them said "If the Sith followed you to Citadel, they might track you here…".

"Then the sooner we leave, the less likely they'll find this place" Dawn suggested.

"Atris, this is a real threat, we can help" Shayla said calmly.

Atris laughed in disbelief "You, offer your aid?. After turning your back on me?…On the Council?. The JedI is not something you embrace out of fear. The commitment is stronger than that, something you never seemed to understand".

Shayla expected Xander to say something in response to her comment but relaxed slightly as he seemed to pull himself back, she looked into the JedI Masters eyes, holding her gaze for several seconds before speaking.

"We are not doing this out of fear, we want to help" she clarified.

"Perhaps…but if are to help me, It cannot be done from here. There are others in the Galaxy who may help us against a Sith threat. If you can find them, gain their trust, perhaps our defences shall be stronger for it" Atris actually approached the three, only a few feet but it seemed like she was actually starting to believe them.

"Take your ship, seek them out. If you can find them, encourage them to gather on Dantooine, from there, we can call a Council, and see what can be done" she finished.

Shayla nodded "If there is anyone who can aid us, we will find them".

Atris nodded "Very well, you may go, one of the Sisters shall show you to your friends, I ask however that your..Apprentice, Xander remain a moment, his willingness to speak his mind impressed me" she added, mostly to dissuade her fear.

Shayla nodded, smiling slightly as she looked to Xander "We shall wait for you in the next room".

Xander nodded, standing as straight as he could, no small feat considering the pain and the exhaustion.

Atris waited for both Shayla and Dawn to reach the entrance to the next room before speaking, her tone seemed lighter, probably because Shayla was not present.

"You are an honest person, you hide nothing from others who have your respect" she stated "Does this include yourself?".

Xander didn't expect that last part, but didn't hesitate to answer "I try to be honest with myself, though I'm not always successful".

Atris nodded, she seemed satisfied with his answer "You have been awoken to the flow of the force, if you were with any other than the Exile, I would not believe it" she quickly waved her hand indicating that his questions can wait "How can you face this threat and not fear for your life, you have not been trained in the ways of the JedI order, yet your loyalty, your resolve to see this through is apparent to even me, I wish to know why?".

Xander smiled "My loyalty, is to Shayla, and anyone who stands with us, not to a group of people who think they know what needs to be done, though my opinions on your Order are not important" he took a slow intake of air "What matters, is that we are aware of the dangers the Sith represent, and we won't ignore them, we were somehow given this, power, and with power comes great responsibility".

Atris was surprised "Wise words".

"Yeah" was all he said, "Though Shayla has been a big help with training us" he said, not sure if it actually fit with the current conversation.

"Yet you seem to indulge your emotions, not wise at all, the Exiles lessons seem to be wasted on you" her eyes narrowed slightly at the implied insult.

Xander smiled slightly "Oh I keep my emotions in check, I know full well what power can do when someone let's anger, or grief..take control" he hesitated for a second at the dark memory.

He looked into her eyes "Maybe you need to look in a mirror before you start to judge people Atris, cause where I'm standing, all I can see is a bitter, lonely woman".

"How dare you.." she said stunned.

"No, how dare you" he said almost without effort "Since we ended up with Shayla, I've seen her do nothing but help people, you might not see it. But I do, I don't know what happened between you two, and frankly I give a shit, you treat her like a criminal, yet the only crime I see is that she cares…and so do the rest of us".

Atris was furious "We are done here".

Xander just nodded, and turned to leave, stopping for a second he looked back at the tall woman "Oh, what I said, it was not meant as a personal insult" he sighed and then moved to follow one of the sisters in white.

**A Short Distance Away…**

Dawn followed Shayla from the room where they met with Atris, she could tell that she was not in a good mood, frankly neither was she.

"Hey, why don't you go check on the ship, I'll go round up the guys and wait for Xander" she suggested.

Shayla stopped, considered her words and nodded "Sounds good" she said.

Dawn smiled and turned to one of the two women in white that was escorting them around "Where are our friends being held?".

The woman nodded "You will find them in the main irrigation channel room, in the northern part of the plateau interior. The particle emitters there, that once governed the flow of water across Telos, can double as force cages".

"My friends are prisoners?" Dawn asked, not surprised really.

"They were caged for their safety, until we could determine your intent. Atris cautioned us against the Exiles tactics, fearing your allies would create a distraction. Your companions gave us little trouble. However, the male would have presented some challenge had he resisted, but he chose not too" the woman said.

Dawn got the feeling she wanted them to resist "You mean Atton?".

The woman nodded "He has had some Echani training. He masks it well, but when you were in danger upon first arriving, his mask slipped into a stance we know well".

Dawn was definitely surprised "Where could he have gotten training like that?".

"I do not know, Echani forms are known to be taught to Military Special forces across the Galaxy however, if this is a mystery to you, perhaps you should ask him. It would be wise to know those you travel with" she answered.

She nodded as they neared another door, for some inexplicable reason she knew her sister and companions were on the other side.

**Other Side of the Door…**

Atton listened calmly to the continuous, unending rant that Buffy seemed to think was helpful, it did make him feel less nervous about being stuck in a nest of JedI.

Kreia sat in her force cage meditating, completely ignoring the blonde woman, in the last few hours he got the feeling that she found Buffy intimidating, whether it was true, it made him feel even better.

That was when he noticed Buffy had stopped ranting.

"Atton, I think we should talk" she said, as she dropped to her butt.

Atton knew this was coming, the woman noticed everything "Talk?" was all he could ask.

"About my sister" she said, still staring at him "I'm not blind".

Atton didn't say anything for a long time, finally he sighed "I don't really know what to tell you Buffy".

"How you feel would be a good start" she tossed out.

Atton looked over at her "That is the problem though, isn't it" he shook his head at his own comment "God, you probably think I'm some kind of sick Sith, the way I've been looking at her".

Buffy shook her head "No, but she is only eighteen, your like almost thirty I guessing?".

"I keep telling myself that, it's not helping" he shot back "I keep trying to find something to shake those feelings, then I look at your sister and..".

"Everything falls apart" Buffy finished for him, she laughed "Here I am, thinking I was going to have the big sister chat with you, the one with 'Hurt her and I break every bone in your body', but somehow it's not working".

Atton stared at the woman dumbfounded "Buffy, I'm not the guy for Dawn, I'm ten years older than her and definitely not the type of guy she wants to take home to meet the family".

Buffy nodded "I won't argue with you on that" she sighed "But your both adults" she paused "God I can't believe I'm saying this".

"Saying what?" he asked, obviously confused "I'm missing something here aren't I?".

Buffy nodded "One of my first boyfriends was several years older then me, a few centuries older actually" she shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable "I'm not going to sit here and give you the leave my sister alone speech, as much as I'd like too".

"Why not?" he asked "For force sakes, she's just a kid!".

Buffy really did laugh this time "Atton, what's wrong with you?. Why are you so opposed to feeling anything for my sister?".

Atton couldn't answer, he just sat there, staring at the floor for several seconds "I'm..not a good person".

"Sorry to break this to you, but I haven't met anyone who is a good person, we all have our moments" Buffy said.

"I've done terrible things" he said quietly "Really terrible things".

This time Buffy didn't speak, she just stared at him.

"Look, I really don't want to talk about this right now, with everything that's happened lately, I just need time to think" he said finally.

Buffy nodded "No problem, but I think you and Dawn should have a talk, the moment things slow down, before your feelings get in the way".

Atton nodded "I've never been good with stuff like this".

"Me neither" Buffy chuckled "But hurt my sister, and I break every bone in your body".

**Main Entrance…**

Xander slowly made his way from the large room, entering the main area they first arrived in, only no one was here, one of the women had stayed with Atris for a moment after he left, the other two that were here had likely left to show Shayla and Dawn where their friends were.

Since he had no idea of where to go, he sat down slowly and decided to wait, less than a minute later the woman who stayed with Atris entered the room, she was apparently surprised to see him there.

"Just taking a minute to enjoy the scenery" he smiled and motioned around the room, rather impressed with his own little joke.

The woman seemed to get the humor and nodded, "You travel with the Exile, the woman Atris warned us about".

"That's not the best way to start a conversation" he said, feeling the annoyance building up inside.

"She said the Exile betrayed the JedI, by going to war when it was forbidden, she betrayed her mentors, her training and herself" she continued.

Xander scowled, the woman had worse people skills than Andrew "From what I understand of the situation, I'd have made the same choice, I mean it's a no-brainer, sit back and watch billions die, nope, sorry".

The woman somehow didn't seem bothered by his statement, in fact she completely ignored it "Atris also says that the Exile knows no loyalty to any cause, except her own animal instincts, and she told us why the Exile fell to the dark side".

This time he laughed "The dark side, that's funny".

"Atris says that she fell to the dark side during the Mandalorian Wars, when she gave in to her lust for battle. Once she tasted war, she could not give it up" she continued.

"If that was true, why didn't she fight in the JedI Civil War?" he snapped, growing very impatient with the woman.

The woman nodded "Atris says, that when the Dark Lord Revan returned to the Republic, she did not march with them because she had fallen so far, she could not feel the force".

Xander sighed, his arm, chest, head, all hurting, he wanted to lay down "Maybe you should get Shayla's side, before continuing with this".

The woman nodded "I believe that is the extent of her expressed feelings towards the Exile. There are variations at time, but they all arise from the same foundation".

He snorted "Expressed feelings, sounds pretty final to me".

This time she showed an actual response to his comment "Yes, but the Echani believe that it is sometimes difficult for others to speak their heart, or listen to it. The words often prove difficult, or do not come at all".

"Well, it seems Atris knows how to express herself just fine" he said.

"Without seeing Atris and the Exile fight, I cannot say" she said, moving slightly closer.

"Huh..who said anything about fighting?" he asked, wondering of he missed something.

"Battle is a pure form of expression. It is heart, and discipline, reduced to movement and motion" she explained.

Xander thought about that for a moment "Sounds almost beautiful" he sighed "I really should find my friends, I feel the need for some serious medical attention" he smiled.

The woman nodded "Before I show you to the hangar, can I ask you a question?".

Xander nodded "Why not".

"You have touched the force, what does it feel like?" she asked, her eyes sparkled.

He didn't know exactly what to say "I really don't know if I can describe it".

"Please, I must know" she said, childlike curiosity danced in her eyes.

He sighed, letting his mind find the words without actually thinking about it "It's so many things, yet you know when you feel it, there's no question".

The woman seemed satisfied with his answer "Thank you, I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me".

"No problem" he said as he moved to stand "Now, which way is the ship?".

**Hangar Bay…**

Dawn left the medical bay, Xander now sleeping peacefully while the medical unit patched him up, she was exhausted, all she wanted was to get some sleep.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" she heard Kreia speak, out in the common room.

"There is a woman here, Atris, she was a member of the JedI Council" Shayla replied.

Entering the room she spotted everyone kind of relaxing, even Atton, "Sorry for interrupting, but shouldn't we be heading back to get everyone else?".

Shayla nodded "Yes, I wanted to explain our meeting with Atris before we left first".

Dawn nodded "Yeah, guess it makes sense".

Kreia leaned forward over a couch "There is a JedI here, in this you are correct".

Buffy stopped cleaning her swords for a second "What does that mean?".

"This is not a JedI academy, it would seem so on the surface, yet this…Atris…surrounds herself with those who cannot feel the force" she replied.

"I thought those quadruplets were students" Buffy said as she turned back to her swords.

"No, her servants are not JedI. Their minds are walls, trained to resist the tricks of the mind. This discipline blinds them to the force as well, even if they were force sensitive to begin with" she continued.

Dawn caught an underlying message in her words "How do you know this, were you reading their minds?".

Kreia smiled slightly "Invade the mind of another?. It is not something to be done carelessly, or when there is nothing to be gained" she said coldly.

Shayla stood up and moved to the central display, it was linked to every system to the ship "I also think it's time we figured out what to do upon leaving Telos".

"Easy, we find those JedI who have somehow managed to hide from the Sith and drag their butt's to Dantooine" Dawn said as she leaned against a nearby bulkhead.

"Well, yes, obviously, but I meant, how are we going to go about finding them, the way things are now, we will have Sith assassins finding us within hours of stopping in any one place" she sighed "What I am saying, is I think we need to split up".

Dawn was stunned "Split up?. What do you mean split up?".

Kreia nodded "I believe I understand what you are saying. The Sith have been tracking us through the force, with the three of us, and Xander, we are a beacon they cannot avoid even if they tried".

Buffy put her sword down "Their tracking you guys, because your all JedI?".

Kreia nodded "JedI, is an order of individuals that can do what we can, we are not of that order, but your words are correct, it is because we can feel and manipulate the force that enables the Sith to find us so easily".

Buffy turned "Dawn, if that's true, splitting up might be the best thing, the more time we have to find any of these JedI, without being found, the better".

Dawn closed her eyes for a moment "All right, I guess it is the best idea, but how are we suppose to do that, we only have one ship".

Atton nodded "Nar Shadaa has a lot of freighter traffic, hell I won no less than four ships in games of Pazaak there" he smiled "But Dantooine is also a lot closer, and if I remember right, quite a few older shuttles were abandoned after Malak destroyed the JedI academy, we could find something there too".

Dawn looked into Shayla's eyes, "We need to drag these JedI to Dantooine anyway, might be an idea to see what the situation there is like, besides, if they track us there, they won't expect us to go back later".

T3 rolled into the room, beeping excitedly.

"What's up with T3?" Dawn asked.

The little droid beeped again, Buffy stared at the little machine in amusement.

"What are you talking about?" Shayla asked the utility droid.

It just hopped a few times, still beeping.

"You downloaded Atris's archives?" she asked.

Kreia growled "What is the machine saying?".

"He downloaded a copy of my trial, from Atris's archives" Shayla said quietly "Go ahead, let's see it" she added hesitantly.

T3 moved to the central display, a small mechanical arm shot out and attached itself to a link, a few seconds later a holographic representation of what could only be the JedI Council appeared, in a slightly blue colour.

It panned in, showing only five of twelve seats occupied, a large set of doors opened, through them walked a much younger version of Shayla, dressed in the brown and white robes of a JedI Knight.

An older man with barely any hair leaned forward "Do you know why we summoned you here?".

Shayla's younger version remained impassive "I came here because I chose too, not because you summoned me".

Another Master leaned forward, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes "So Revan summoned you, we have as well, your Journey has brought you full circle".

Another Master, with long black hair and a thick Texan moustache nodded "Why did you defy us? The JedI are Guardians of the peace, and have been for centuries. Revan's call to war undermines all that we have worked for".

The holo image moved to Atris, a much younger version of her "Is Revan your master now, Or is it the horror you caused at Malachor that caused you to see the truth at last?".

Shayla's younger self stepped forward slightly "the truth is, the mandalorians had to be stopped, or countless more would have died".

The Texan JedI shook his head "You refuse to hear us. You have shut us out, and so have shut yourself from the Galaxy".

Another JedI, a woman, appeared, Dawn thought she looked familiar "You are exiled, you are JedI no longer".

The older JedI with no hair spoke "There is one more thing, your light saber, surrender it too us".

The small holo image of Shayla activated a bright double blade and thrust it into the central pillar in the room, deep enough that the handle stuck into the stone.

Then she turned and left.

The blonde haired Master spoke first after she left "Much defiance in that one".

"You are correct Kavar. When she was here, I felt it. It was if she was not there, more like an echo" said the Texan JedI.

The dark haired female JedI nodded "The war has touched the youngest of the order. Many of them have lost themselves in the battle against the Mandalorians".

Atris sneered "We have not lost a jedI this day. You all felt it…she has lost herself. She is no JedI, she walked Revan's path, but was not strong enough.

The Texan sighed "I fear we are to blame for the teachings that led Revan to chose the path that he did".

"We are not the ones who taught Revan" Atris countered.

The dark haired woman shook her head "We take responsibility Atris, not cast blame".

Kavar, the blonde haired JedI spoke next "The choice of one was the choice of us all. Revan's teacher intended no harm. And Revan had many teachers since".

Atris leaned back in her council chair "Yet they all stem from the same source. Her teachings violated the JedI code, and led all who listen to the dark side, as they did the Exile".

The dark haired woman interrupted "You are wrong Atris, the dark side is not what I sensed in the Exile. Surely the rest of you sensed it as well. That emptiness we felt…She has changed".

"Whatever that…wound was" Atris spat "It was of the dark side. We should not have let her depart. She will simply join Revan again, or perhaps worse".

The Texan was focused on again "What would you have done with her Atris?. Be mindful of your feelings!. This is not Revan that stood before you. This one walks a different path".

"No" Kavar spoke "Although that may come in time. We let her go because we must, where she travels she carries her destination with her".

Atris seemed nearly irate "Malachor five should have been her grave. You saw it in her walk, and in the force. It was as if she was already dead".

"No, not death" the Texan spoke "Many battles awaits that one, if what you have seen is true. But the future is constantly shifting, and she cuts through it like a blade".

The dark haired woman sighed "We should have told her the truth. A jedI deserves to know".

The old man spoke next "No good would have come from it, even if what you said was true. There is still the matter of Revan, and such truths could leave us vulnerable on two fronts".

Kavar nodded "Perhaps, in many years, we shall callher before us, and explain what has happened to her, and how to heal her. Until then, she must accept her journey".

The dark haired woman shook her head "But she may never discover the truth. And never know why we cast her out".

"Then that is the future we must accept" Kavar said.

The holo-recording stopped.

"Wow, those JedI sure like there secrets" Atton snorted.

Dawn felt a presence behind her, she turned slightly, seeing Xander awake and standing behind her with an expression that worried her.

"Xander?" she said.

He smiled slightly, and stepped into the room, "Hey, did I miss anything?".

"Just a recording of Shayla's trial" Atton said.

"Oh" Xander said.

T3 began to beep again, interrupting any further conversation.

"T3 says he has a list of the missing JedI" Shayla translated.

"Well, let's see it" Dawn said.

Another holo record appeared above the central display.

The image of the old man appeared _Master Vrook Dantooine._

The Texan _Master Zez Kai Ell Nar shadaa._

The blonde haired JedI _Master Kavar Onderon._

The dark haired woman _Master Lonna Vash Korriban._

An image of Atris, _Master Atris Telos._

"I knew them all, they were all there" Shayla said.

Kreia stepped up "This is no coincidence, there is a larger plan at work here, and we are walking right into it. This is too convenient to be anything other than a trap".

Shayla nodded "Be that as it may, we need their help against the Sith".

"Those are Atris's records you have stolen" Said a voice that shouldn't be on board.

Everyone turned to see one of the women in white step into view from the darkness of a corridor.

"What the hell are you doing on our ship?" Atton snapped.

She nodded "I have come to join you. I can help you against this threat".

"Well, we don't want your help, or any of your sisters" he retorted.

"It is just me, and I am doing this because Atris believes you will need help" she stated.

Dawn spotted Xander look to Shayla, the brief eye contact seemed to convey what he was thinking, she looked back to the HandMaiden "We will take what ever help we can get".

"Indeed?" Kreia asked "What does one more matter to our journey" she shook her head "I grow tired of this, I will be in my chambers".

As she turned down the corridor Atton stood up too "Yeah, me too, I'll be in my chambers…but since I don't have any, I guess I'll be in the cock-pit, like I always do. If she get's to come with us, she get's the cargo hold. Might remind her how fun it is to get locked up".

"The cargo hold is enough. I assure you, there is little I need, I will attend myself" the Handmaiden said.

Xander shook his head "Look, forget atton, we'll find something better than the cargo hold".

"It is no matter. I am used to worse conditions. But…thank you, for your kindness" she nodded and then left for the rear of the ship.

Dawn caught the slightly pained look on Shayla's face "Okay, so now we know where we need to go".

"Don't forget Shayla's suggestion, splitting up is still a good idea" Buffy added.

Xander looked to shayla "Split up, why the hell for?".

"Cause the Sith can track us so damn fast, because we can use the force" Dawn explained.

"Oh" he said as he moved to sit down, he looked a lot better but it would be a day or two before he was back up to full strength.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, probably, guess I'm too wired" he nodded.

"Or I didn't give you enough sedatives" Dawn smiled.

"Maybe, so about splitting up, don't we need another ship?" he asked.

"Attons suggested either Nar shadaa or Dantooine, the latter is closer but both have the possibility of us finding another vessel" Shayla said.

"Closer sounds better, besides, isn't Dantooine the location of the JedI Academy?" he asked.

Shayla nodded "Yes, though it was destroyed in the JedI Civil War".

"We still might find something useful" he added.

"Plus that Vrook guy is there" Dawn agreed.

Shayla nodded "True. First let's gather the rest of the group and our supplies, then we'll discuss where we shall go, and who will go with who assuming we can find another vessel".

"Sounds good chief" Xander smiled "I think I'm gonna drudge me up something to eat".

Dawn smiled "We got Cardboard flavoured rations and plastic flavoured rations, your choice".

"If I mix them, I'll have plastic cardboard flavour" he said as she moved to the storage cupboard.

Buffy chuckled "I could go for something to eat too" as she pulled out a Twix bar from her pants.

Both Xander and Dawn stopped.

Buffy stopped as well "uh oh" she then bolted for the corridor leading to the other set of quarters, Dawn and Xander right behind her.

Shayla smiled at the antics before heading to the bridge "Like children sometimes" she muttered to herself.

**Next Chapter, the gang gets together and has some much needed downtime enroute too...ha, like i'm going to say yet bwahahaha.**


	4. Chapter 4

-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

**Sorry for the delay. Work and Life issues popped up. Chapter 5 is on the way. Hopefully by the end of the month.**

**Chapter 4.…**

Faith pushed the last Storage Cylinder into place against the wall, neatly lined up with the other fourteen the group had filled, stepping back she turned to Riley "Damn, you guys sure we're gonna need all of this?".

The former Initiative soldier nodded as he wiped sweat from his head "Better to be prepared, never know if we'll need replacement armour, extra weapons and such, besides, most of those are ration packs and those medpacks".

"Oh, okay then" she looked over towards the landing control room "Were is everyone?".

"Boa-Dur is going through everyone's gear, something about upgrading, O'Neill, Caridad and Shannon are watching the entrance, just in case we get company".

Faith nodded "Good idea" she glanced at her watch, a recent gift from Buffy "Wow, they've only been gone like twenty minutes".

"Time fly's when your having fun" Riley smiled "I'm going to grab a bite and then check on our guests".

Faith nodded "Say hi for me" she smiled, rather glad that no one saddled that job on her.

Riley nodded and headed towards the room across from the hangar control room, Faith watched him for a minute before heading to see how Bao-Dur was getting along with her old friends.

It took only a minute to make her way towards the workshop, the hallways were still cluttered with the remains of destroyed Military Droids, blaster marks burnt into the shiny floor and walls.

She really hoped Buffy and the others found the Ebon Hawk, or at least something they could use to leave this planet, not like she didn't like it down here, it was the thought of more Sith finding them that worried her.

"So high quality objects can take specific upgrades?" she heard Willow babbling.

"Yes, this standard blaster for example can take a variety of Scopes, the firing chamber is easily replaceable and the power cell, well that's the easy part" Bao-Dur responded.

Entering the room she spotted everyone resting on make shift beds, sure they were made from blankets but they looked rather comfortable, she realized it had now been nearly two days since she had gotten any sleep.

"Hey guys, what's up?" she asked quietly, as to not disturb anyone.

Though she had to admit, the old Brit Giles looked rather cute stretched out on the floor, especially wearing a Combat Suit, the brown and grey actually fit him.

Graham on the other hand looked like a professional even with his eyes closed, though it probably because he slept with his weapons arranged around him, in easy reach.

Willow smiled as she entered "Oh, hi Faith, things are going good, I managed to convince Bao-Dur to show me how some examples of Technology works here".

"Hope she isn't talking your ear off BD" she nodded to the Zabrak.

"BD?" he asked hesitantly.

Willow shook her head "Don't mind her, she's too lazy to actually call people by their full names".

The Zabrak Technician nodded "I understand" he said "And no, Willow here is delightful company, I forgot how it felt to work with someone again".

Faith smiled "Good to hear it" she turned to leave "Heading topside to check on O'Neill and the girls, you guys keep those headsets on all right".

Willow tapped her ear "Were ahead of you".

Faith nodded before heading for the next hallway, she figured it would take her maybe another two minutes to reach the surface, so she reached for the small pouch on her belt, and pulled out a pack of gum "Pretty much sums up your life Faith, want to quite smoking, get stuck in another Galaxy".

She tightened the grip on the _Intar_ that O'Neill gave her as she neared the entrance, very few weapons they had were non-lethal, except for the MP-5 Submachine gun replica and the _Zats_, a rather nice surprise that was, finding out the Airforce had actually developed non-lethal weapons.

Willow now carried two _Zats_, while nearly everyone else carried one, Faith carried one as well, but something about the feel of the German weapon just called to her, she had always liked firearms and even toyed with the idea of carrying some kind of personal defence weapon while patrolling back on earth, she never did though, the Scoobies had this thing against firearms, understandable really, considering the few encounters they did have with guns involved someone close to the them dieing or nearly dieing.

She turned the last corner and spotted O'Neill leaning against the wall, using the hatch frame as slight cover "Hey Faith" he said quietly without looking.

She smiled "How'd you know it's me?".

"Your walk" he said finally looking "and the gum".

"Ah" she moved to the other side of the hallway, and mimicked his own stance, "How are the girls doing?".

"Good, they got talent, could use some work though" he said, still looking outside.

"You don't talk much" she commented.

"It's called keeping watch" he replied dryly.

"Am I bothering you?" she asked.

"Nope" he answered.

Faith couldn't help herself "How bout now?".

"Nope" he said again.

"Now?" she asked, her smile widening.

O'Neill swung his own _Intar_ towards her "Wanna keep asking?" he smiled.

She held up her hands "Okay, whoa, I get the point" she said, even though she knew he was joking.

"Shh" he said, holding up a gloved hand.

Faith instantly stopped talking and moving, even breathing, she listened but heard nothing, O'Neill slipped through the hatch a few feet and stopped.

"Orbital Shuttle, sounds the same as the one our friends left in" he whispered.

Faith didn't move "They shouldn't be back yet, it's three hours to the Polar region".

"I'm guessing it's not our people" he said and tapped the transmitter attached to his ear "Cari, Shannon, report".

_"Orbital shuttle circling the compound, looks like they're gonna land"_ replied one of the girls, she couldn't tell which one due to the whispering.

"Stay put, do not reveal yourselves" he ordered and pulled back to his previous position "Everyone else pull back to the Droid recharging station" he ordered.

Faith for once didn't mind the Airforce lieutenant was taking charge, mostly because she liked direct confrontation, which under the circumstance likely wasn't the best option.

Jonathan O'Neill winked at her "Let's pull back and see who our guests are".

"Sounds good to me" she said and waited for him to move, then fell in behind him, keeping her weapon at the ready.

**Droid Recharging Room…**

Bao-Dur lead the way through the hangar bay to the droid recharging station, Willow, Giles and Graham right behind him, he spotted Riley enter from the other side of the room, moving fast and quiet.

Graham slipped into the room and moved to cover the door, Giles did the same on the right, leaving Willow, Riley and himself to take positions elsewhere.

Riley pointed to the two open doors leading the now useless recharging stations themselves, he understood what the soldier was trying to say, he tapped Willow on the shoulder and motioned for her to move to the open door to the left, he moved to the one on the right, Riley however continued through, the way they had come into the hallway that led towards the hangar bay.

As he took position he looked over to the red headed human female, finding himself rather impressed with how composed she was, it was a totally different side of the woman, less than a minute ago she was talking and babbling like a Twi'lek child.

_"This is Shannon, shuttle has landed in the base, we got six droids, two are heading for the facility entrance"_ he heard in his ear.

"_Copy that, I repeat stay out of sight, we'll deal with those first two then we'll worry about the other four"_ he heard the human O'Neill reply.

He sat there for nearly four minutes, no one moved, no one spoke, then he heard several _Zat _blasts echo down the corridor.

Giles and Graham looked at each other hesitantly, Giles then looked back to both he and willow, Graham then touched his ear piece "O'Neill, sit-rep?".

For several seconds no reply echoed other the headsets.

"_Two droids are down, moving to cover the main entrance" _the young Air Force officer replied "_Everyone move forward to the han.."_.

Graham tapped the headset "Say again O'Neill, your transmission broke up".

There was no response.

"I don't like this" Giles said "We should check on them".

Graham ignored him for a moment "Riley come in".

Nothing.

"Shannon?….Caridad?".

Still nothing.

Willow gripped her two _Zats_ tightly "Giles is right, something's wrong".

Graham nodded "All right, Giles and I take point, leap frog forward, you two cover us" he said, more for Willows benefit than the Zabrak's.

Willow nodded and moved behind Giles as Bao-Dur moved up behind Graham, then as one the soldier and scholar entered the corridor.

The two were half way down the corridor, when Willow closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall "That's not right…someone…".

"Willow?" Bao-Dur said, paying attention to their two companions as he spoke.

Willow shook her head slightly "I'm fine..I..I just felt a presence, it wasn't a nice feeling".

Bao-Dur had spent enough time around JedI in his life to know she was sensing something "Was it a person?".

Willow nodded, but pointed down the corridor "Their at the corner, let's go".

Bao-Dur watched her move for a second, and the moved to catch up, they joined Graham and Giles a moment later, Bao-Dur quickly crossed the hallway to cover the next corridor, then the two men proceeded down towards the Hangar Bay, Willow kneeled at the corner, both weapons ready.

The two men reached the hangar bay a few seconds later, and to the horror of both Bao-Dur and Willow, were somehow picked up and tossed like a tornado had sucked them up.

"GILES!" Willow screamed and moved to run down the corridor.

The Zabrak knew things had gone from bad to worse, he had seen the same thing happen too many times back in the war to not know what was waiting for them.

"Willow no!" he hollered and ran after her.

The red headed woman reached the entrance to the hangar bay and disappeared, just like graham and Giles, he felt the anger building in his chest and instead of running through the doorway decided to dive through it, hell if he was going to go flying, he might as well get a head start.

As he dived into the room he could see both Giles and Graham, laying nearly forty feet away, right next to the storage cylinders they had stacked up, he then spotted the six individuals near the main entrance, two were familiar uniforms of dark jedI, the other four were clad in similar uniforms, just not as nice.

The funny thing was the look of shock on their faces, and that they weren't paying him any attention.

Then he saw Willow, suspended nearly twenty feet in the air, her red hair moving like she was at the center of a storm, and her eyes were glowing silver.

Bao-Dur hit the floor loudly, and took advantage of the situation, he opened fire, of course one of the Dark JedI reacted fast enough to deflect the blaster shots into the floor and ceiling.

Figures, he thought, as he rolled towards the nearest wall, not wanting to be caught in the open.

Willow however was saying something, then the four lesser dressed Dark JedI flew back into the corridor leading to the maintenance room, leaving only the two nicer dressed JedI in the room.

The one paying attention to him advanced quickly, his crimson light saber flashed to life as he moved.

Bao-Dur knew he didn't stand a chance if the man reached him, and fired wildly with one hand as he fumbled with his belt.

The Dark JedI defelcted every shot, one even came close to rebounding back but snapped into the wall a foot from his face, the warrior leaped, and he knew the man was aiming to kill him quickly.

So he kicked back as he dropped the object he was fumbling for, the Dark JedI landed a foot from where he was a moment before and smiled rather smugly.

"I'm going to kill you fast" he sneered.

Bao-Dur smiled "Your going to die messy" he then covered his head as the grenade exploded.

**A short distance away…**

Shannon glanced to Caridad as they moved into the facility, they had to do something, no one had responded to their warnings about the second ship that landed.

Which meant someone was likely disrupting communications, or the droids managed to defeat Faith, O'Neill and Riley.

Not likely.

Then they spotted six people, all human, dressed in dark clothes appear out of nowhere and literally tear apart the remaining four droids.

Without stopping they continued into the facility.

A few seconds later the two Slayers followed.

Less than fifty feet down the corridor they found Riley, slumped against a wall, Shannon quickly moved to his side and checked for a pulse, relieved to find it steady, checking the rest of his body she determined that he had simply been knocked out.

She poked him a few times, with no response, she shook her head and pointed down the corridor, the two continued on, finding O'Neill at the next intersection, he too was unconscious, but seemed to be coming around.

"Hey, you all right?" Cari asked as she moved to his side.

"No, but I'll deal with that later" he said as Cari pulled him to his feet.

"You guys see who hit us?" he asked.

Shannon nodded "Six guys with red light sabers".

O'Neill rolled his eyes "Of course" he checked his _Intar_ and smiled "Time for payback" he added as he pulled off the modulator and slipped in a regular clip, the submachine gun clicked as he pulled back the bolt.

Cari smiled and moved to the next door, O'Neill moved to the other side and together proceeded down the hall, Shannon bringing up the rear.

"Remember what Dawn said, no energy weapons, they can deflect the shots" he whispered.

They all stopped upon hearing a grenade go off.

"Shit" Shannon hissed and raced past the two of them, nearly tripping over four barely conscious people in black clothes.

Cari entered the room and quickly pulled her _Zat_, stunning them all before they could reach for their light sabers.

Shannon however grabbed two of the noe discarded weapons and smiled "Now I'm happy".

Cari rolled her eyes as she grabbed one that looked like Faith's, she smiled "Mine's bigger".

O'Neill was already waiting at the next door "Ladies?".

"Sorry" they said in unison and moved past him into the corridor.

**Hangar bay…**

The grenade exploding gave the last remaining Dark JedI the edge he needed to surprise his more immediate threat.

Willow felt the energy tear into her shields, nearly flattening them from the shear force, the raw power was almost overwhelming, but she could tell the man was unfocused, and didn't understand the value of actual control.

She knew her own power was waning, it was almost like she could feel it draining from her body, and that was just from reinforcing the nearly depleted shields.

She closed her eyes to focus, and reached out with her senses, feeling her way across the hangar bay until she could feel her opponent, with a smile she imagined her own consciousness wrapping around the man's leg, with a few mystic words she felt the assault abruptly stop.

She knew the man had been tossed across the room, she slowly floated to the floor before stalking towards the barely conscious Dark JedI.

As she neared the man she felt something, deep within her, she closed her eyes as the pressure in her chest grew, it forced her to her knee's, the pain quickly became nearly unbearable.

"You have power child, a pity the Sith never found you years ago" said a deep voice.

Willow opened her eyes in time to see the Dark JedI, now standing, with his Crimson Blade in hand, just as he moved to attack.

She closed her eyes, not knowing what else to do, nearly unable to breathe from the pain.

Only to hear Faith laughing.

She opened her eyes to see the Dark JedI's own blade deflected by Faith's Double Blade, the man jumped back as she twisted his blade to the side and moved on the offensive, he moved fast however, and managed to avoid or deflect every thrust and strike she sent his way.

"Not bad" he hissed as he saw an opening and dashed forward, barely ducking a slash from Faith and drew his blade across her right thigh.

Faith however seemed almost oblivious to the wound as she continued her assault, spinning and twisting, still the man managed to avoid or deflect every strike.

Faith had saved her life only to face a much more experienced swordsman, the Dark JedI smiled as he now realized his opponents skill with the light saber was less than his, he stepped up his own offensive, easily pushing Faith back, the two were a blur as the Dark JedI attacked and Faith defended.

Less than five seconds after Faith first engaged the Dark JedI, the fight was over, with Faith on her back, weaponless and covered in small burns from her opponents weapon.

A Crimson blade hovered over her throat.

"Now, that was truly impressive for one untrained" he hissed.

Faith however smiled "Just buying my friends some time is all".

Willow heard a click from behind her, looking quickly, still nearly incapacitated from the pain, she spied Jonothan O'Neill standing a dozen feet from her, his MP-5 Submachine gun aimed at the man, Caridad and Shannon standing right next to him.

The Dark JedI caught sight of them and smiled "Fool, I deflected your weapon fire before" he sneered.

"Let's try that again shall we" Jon said coldly and pulled the trigger.

The Dark JedI attempted to deflect the weapon fire, and actually managed to intercept one round, it sparked as it connected with the blade.

The remaining four rounds of 9mm ammunition slammed into his chest, picking him up and tossing him back nearly five feet from the impact, he landed on his back hard, the crimson blade died as it fell from his lifeless fingers.

Jon dropped the weapon and moved to Willow quickly, she watched as Cari moved to Faith, and Shannon moved to check on the other Dark JedI, killed by Bao-Dur's Grenade.

"How you doing?" he asked her, the concern in his eyes was not what she expected.

Willow nodded slowly, she could feel the pain subsiding "I…need a …minute" she gasped.

Faith, using her sister Slayer's shoulders for support ambled over, she was a mess of light saber burns "Hey red, you sure your okay?".

Willow nodded, but remained silent as she turned her focus on recovering from what ever the Dark JedI did to her.

"Hey guys!. Bao-Dur's alive, just unconscious, no burns, no serious bruising" Shannon called out from the Hangar control room door.

Jon turned "Stay with him till he wakes up" he called out, then turned back to Willow "I'm going to check on Giles and Miller, your sure your okay?".

Willow nodded again and pushed his shoulder, it was easier than using the little breath she had to speak.

Caridad helped Faith sit next to Willow, then ran back towards the corridor.

"That Sith guy do this?" Faith asked.

Willow only nodded.

"Damn red" she said quietly.

Caridad came back into the room, helping a limping Riley "Glad to see everyone's okay…whoa..Faith..".

"Can it Riley" Faith shot back, not sure if was about to make a bad joke about her condition, or the fact that she obviously got her butt kicked.

Riley smirked and nodded "All right" he let go of Caridad and hobbled over "But I reserve the right to belittle you later".

Faith couldn't help but smile, "Fine, but I get to belittle you whenever I want".

"How is this different than before?" he smiled.

Willow listened to the friendly interaction between the two, she was glad they could actually associate with each other, considering the only time they had met before was when Faith had occupied Buffy's body, and, well…

Shannon and Bao-Dur moved from the hangar control room "Hey, look who's awake" Shannon called out.

Everyone looked to see how the Zabrak Technician had fared during the fight, rather surprised to see he was fine.

"I'm okay, the grenade only concussed me" he waved as if it was no big deal and sat on the edge of a storage cylinder near to where the grenade detonated.

"Miller and Giles are coming around" Jon called from nearly the opposite side of the hangar.

They all watched as the former librarian and the Army Officer slowly pulled themselves to their feet, then slowly make their way towards them.

Jon was lost in thought as they approached.

Willow felt a lot better, her breathing had eased quite a bit in the last few minutes "What's wrong O'Neill?".

"Just thinking about the future" he said, making solid eye contact.

Faith caught the look and shook her head "Are you accusing Willow of something?".

"Accusing?. No." he sighed "Everyone has at one point or another mentioned how you are a very powerful witch, do you think they felt you here and followed that feeling?".

Faith was standing a second later, her wounds momentarily forgotten "Listen here Flyboy…" she began but stopped upon feeling a hand on her arm "Faith, no, he's got a point".

"What?" she asked.

"He has a point" she said again "They should have tracked Shayla and the others, but they came here, the only explanation is that they followed the stronger feeling to me".

Giles stepped forward "That is a very astute deduction, however terrifying it is".

Riley nodded "This is bad" he looked to Willow "Can you..conceal your power?".

Willow nodded "Maybe" she sighed "It's not like I can turn it on or off, but I might be able to create some kind of barrier, it'll take a lot of my power to keep them up though".

O'Neill smiled "That's good, being able to conceal it...not the..." he stopped and looked around for a second, feeling the metaphoracle foot cramming down his throat "Okay, now we need to worry about how to deal with the next group that comes looking" he said, changing the subject.

Almost everyone looked at him rather confused, only Graham voiced the obvious question "The next group?".

Jon nodded "C'mon guys, theirs always another group".

"He's got a point" Faith shrugged "And your right, we got our butt's handed back to us with nice red bows, we need to figure out how to deal with these guys better, before we end up dead".

Shannon motioned to the Dark JedI Jon shot "Bullets work all right".

"Several problems with that, first, limited ammunition, second, they like to surprise attack apparently" Jon shook his head "Good try though".

"I suggest we wait for the others to return, then work on this, we have quite a bit to deal with as it is" Giles said, adjusting his glasses.

"G's right, let's lick our wounds" Faith said, the tone in her voice made it clear that she was done.

Everyone moved off towards Boa-Dur, except Willow, she stared at the Dead Dark JedI for a few seconds before moving to join them, she couldn't help but wonder if she would end up bringing more trouble for the group.

**Next Chapter: the gang reunites, The Handmaiden meets the Gang. The Dark Jedi Attack gets more thought. And Shayla makes a decision that might split the group. **


	5. Chapter 5

-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

**Chapter Five:**

"_Hey guys, were approaching the Research Facility, there's a few things you should see"_ Attons voice echoed from the Ebon Hawks Intercom, drawing everyone's attention from what they were doing.

The first person to enter the cock-pit was Shayla, she moved to the co-pilots chair and looked out the window, her mouth opened to ask what he wanted to show them but Atton beat her too it.

"I'm bringing the ship around, there are two ships, one in the compound and another in the flatlands a few hundred meters away" he said as he easily controlled the vessel.

As the facility came into view, everyone else also joined them, except for T3-M4, the little droid was likely still doing maintenance on the ship.

"There, that shuttle in the compound" Atton pointed.

"The droids" Xander said quietly "On the plateau".

Kreia nodded "It would explain how they tracked us".

Atton banked the ship slightly, turning it away from the station "That's not the ship that bothers me" he said.

A few seconds later they spotted another vessel as they passed over the ridge that basically surrounded the facility, everyone knew just from the design that it was bad news.

The ships was larger than an orbital shuttle, but smaller than the Ebon Hawk, it was definitely a sleek vessel, with two large wings structures that sloped slightly down and away from the main body of the ship, then jutted forward, a few meters past the darkened cock-pit.

Another pair of smaller wings, similar to the first pair jutted up from the fuselage, and sloped forward as well, stopping level with the cock-pit, then came the weapons, large barrels for some kind of energy weapon mated almost seamlessly with each wing, one lone double barrel turret rested on the fuselage, about center with the ship, the design definitely made the ship look fast, and dangerous.

"Why do I have a bad feeling when I look at that ship?" Buffy asked.

Atton smothered a laugh "Cause that's a Sith Interceptor, a larger cousin to the Sith fighter built by Malak and Revan using the Star Forge".

Shayla looked at the ship as they circled it "That was built at the Star Forge?".

Atton nodded "Those things are the Sith equivalent of the Republic scout, fast and highly manoeuvrable, the entire design is to make it harder to detect on sensors, those things used to plague Republic supply convoys back during the war, quite effectively too, especially in groups".

"This is bad" Dawn said "That ship means there are Sith on the planet, they tracked us here".

Shayla turned in her chair "Dawn, relax, we don't know if they found the others, we need to remain calm and focused".

Buffy smiled "She's right, besides, with Faith, Caridad and Shannon watching over everyone, I pitty the idiots that try to mess with them".

"Don't forget Wills" Xander chuckled.

Buffy nodded "Oh I didn't forget".

Atton cleared his throat "So what's the plan people, we land and go in or just toss caution to the wind and take us into the landing bay?".

Shayla hesitated for a second "We have the weapon turrets, if there are Sith inside the compound we could use the extra firepower".

Buffy's eyes widened "Are you serious, your talking like these guys are more than we could handle".

Shayla, Dawn and Xander just looked at her.

"Buffy, the Sith were responsible for the deaths of Billions, including the population of this planet, there armies were more than capable of killing cause they wanted too, and the Dark JedI, well, I'm not going there" Atton said rather calmly, if not a little nervous.

"Oh, okay then, Sith bad, got it" she replied.

Xander looked back to the Handmaiden, who was hiding just in the corridor outside the Cock-pit, he gave her a look, as if to ask if she had any suggestions, she shook her head and remained were she was, he nodded and looked back to Shayla "Okay, so what do you think we should do, you're the one who used to be the General" he nudged her.

Shayla's face visibly darkened at the comment, "We go in with the ship, Xander and Atton should move to the turrets just in case, the rest of us will see how the others are, if things are bad, we try to get them out and return to the ship".

"Okay, we got a plan" Buffy said "I'm going to go get ready".

Dawn rolled her eyes "Ready, your wearing everything you brought with you".

"Hey, gotta look my best if the bad guys want to start something" she winked and left the Cock-pit.

Atton shook his head as well "Something tells me that any Sith we actually do run into, are really not going to like her".

Xander patted the pilots shoulder and left without a word, Dawn right on his heals, leaving only Shayla and Kreia in the cock-pit with him, none of them had been aware of the Handmaidens presence.

"We must tread carefully, I can feel a powerful disturbance in the force within the facility" Kreia said to Shayla.

"So did I, but it could be Willow, the sheer power the woman has is startling" She replied.

Kreia nodded "Which brings up another issue, whether or not the Sith managed to surprise our new associates, something must be decided, the amount of power she wields is likely how the Sith tracked us to this facility to begin with, not to mention the presence of four force sensitive's, Xander and Dawn, though capable, and growing more experienced, could be used against you".

Shayla frowned as she watched the older woman "What do you mean?".

Kreia glanced to Atton "Perhaps it is best that we discuss this at a more opportune moment".

Shayla understood the old woman clearly, she didn't want to talk in front of Atton, they also needed to pay attention to the hopefully unnecessary, rescue of their new friends.

**Hangar Bay**

The Ebon Hawk easily dropped through the ceiling entrance to the facilities cavernous hangar bay, front the belly mounted turret Xander could see the unmistakable signs of combat, that wasn't there before they left, he tapped the ships intercom "I've got signs of fighting on the display here, light blaster fire and maybe even high explosives".

"_Understood, just keep your eyes peeled, if there are Sith here we need to spot them before we land"_ Atton replied over the headset.

Xander didn't reply back, he inhaled slowly as he used the turret camera's to track through the hangar bay, not wanting to tip any potential hostiles off by moving the turret itself.

He didn't need to wait long, sighing in relief upon seeing Faith and the new guy O'Neill enter the hangar bay from the direction of Droid maintenance.

_"We got friendlies, Xander stand down"_ Shayla said over the ships com system, he smiled and shut down the turret, then climbed the short ladder to the main lever and moved to join everyone by the ships entrance.

He spotted Buffy, Dawn and the Handmaiden waiting calmly "Faith and O'Neill are out there" he said, figuring no one had elaborated on who the friendlies Shayla mentioned were.

Buffy's face brightened visibly, Dawn's seemed to relax more than anything, and the handmaiden, well she seemed about as emotional as she had been since first meeting her.

"I just hope no one was hurt" Dawn said quietly.

Xander nodded, knowing exactly what she meant, Sith were bad news, Dark JedI were even worse "I'm sure their fine" he said as they felt the ship touch down, the ramp clicked and hissed as the environmental seal disengaged and began to lower "But let's go check for ourselves shall we?".

Atton joined them a second later just as the ramp touched the hangar bay floor "I need a shower" he muttered.

Xander stopped and thought about it for maybe a second "I agree, a shower sounds like a damn fine idea".

Buffy smiled but said nothing as she moved down the ramp first, Dawn followed, then the Handmaiden, Atton and Xander took up the rear.

"Hey guys, glad to see you back, with our ship no less!" Faith hollered from the hangar bay control room.

Buffy jogged over "Yeah, fun and games, ran into a few droids, shot the shuttle out from under us" she slowed as she neared the two of them "Damn Faith, you look like crap!".

O'Neill nodded "Yeah, six droids paid us a visit, they managed to get into the computer here before we could neutralize the two that actually came in, I guess they got off a signal before we finished them off".

"Then the Sith jerks showed up, no worries though, everyone's fine" Faith added.

Faith looked towards the rest of the group as they approached, her eyes narrowing upon seeing the white haired woman in their midst "Who's the chick?".

Buffy turned slightly "Handmaiden, an Echani warrior, she's volunteered to help us out".

Faith eyed the woman up and down in only a few seconds, Buffy saw the look in her sister slayers eyes, she likely came to the same conclusion, Handmaiden was skilled, and very dangerous.

Faith glanced back to Buffy and nodded, they would both be watching this new addition, very carefully indeed.

O'Neill seemed at least somewhat aware of the silent communication between the two of them but remained quiet, he simply checked to make sure the hangar bay automated services came on line, thanks to some instruction from Bao-Dur that is.

Remote fuel hoses snaked out from holes in the floor, Atton being the only truly experienced pilot moved quickly to secure each hose to the ship, Xander took a cue and moved to help out.

O'Neill then turned back to Buffy "So, back to the Sith".

"Yeah, we figured they showed up when Atton spotted a Sith Interceptor in the flatlands" Buffy said.

O'Neill moved to a chair and sat down hard "It was not a pleasant experience, if it wasn't for Willow, we would all likely be in chains, or dead, she bought the rest of us enough time to regroup after a serious butt kicking".

Buffy's face paled slightly "Is she okay?".

Faith slapped her on the back "Relax, Red's fine, a little drained from the encounter but at least she didn't get tossed around like a rag doll" she smirked at O'Neill.

He nodded "Yeah, but I wasn't the light saber practise dummy" he retorted.

Buffy saw the jesting and relaxed a bit, she was worried that Faith and O'Neill wouldn't get along, it seemed her worries were unfounded.

"So, I take it the Sith are responsible for your oh so beautiful condition?" she asked.

Faith nodded but didn't say anything.

"So, you got the ship back, gotta say though, It looks like a piece of crap" O'Neill muttered.

"That's what I said, but Atton and Dawn insist it's a good ship" Buffy nodded.

"So, what the sitch B?. Who took the Ebon Hawk?" Faith asked as she leaned against the door frame.

Buffy shook her head "We'll get into all that after the ships secure and we're all together, there's a few things we all need to hear, and discuss".

Faith looked to O'Neill, then back to Buffy "We ain't gonna like this are we?".

Buffy just shrugged her shoulder "Let's go get everyone together".

Faith looked back to O'Neill "I'll be along shortly, once Atton and Xander have those hoses secured".

The two women nodded and left, collecting the handmaiden from the hallway as they left, their destination, the droid maintenance area.

**Twenty minutes later…**

Shayla looked at everyone, seeing the various reactions to the events of the last few hours in the Polar Region, with Atris and finally an official introduction to the Handmaiden, who remained quiet since there arrival.

Everyone seemed just a little on edge after hearing about how the group had been locked up by this woman, but no one said anything, they just gave her wary looks.

Shayla glanced to Kreia, their conversation from the landing, though brief was definitely the first thing on her mind "So, with the events of the last few hours out of the way, I think it's time we talked about our current situation, and how we can best achieve our goals".

Riley held up a hand, "Those goals being?".

"Finding the surviving JedI Masters, and convincing them to meet on Dantooine" Shayla clarified "Atris is one, so that leaves only four that need to be located".

Shayla caught a look on Kreia's face and knew what she was thinking "We also need to discuss the dangers of having so many force sensitive individuals in one group".

Faith was the first to catch on "You intend to split us up?".

Shayla nodded "It's a dangerous idea, I know, but with Kreia, Dawn, Xander and Myself, it was becoming apparent that the enemy could track us rather easily, with Willow's power I would guess that we are more like a beacon".

"But willow can mask her power now, and we're stronger as a group, you know the saying, together we stand, divided we fall" Faith interrupted.

Shayla nodded "I don't like it either, but together we will be hounded every time we stop, likely within hours of arriving at our destinations, we can buy ourselves time if we split into groups, and we can search more planets a lot faster".

Miller held up a hand "It's a good point, besides, I saw the Ebon Hawk land, she doesn't look like we'd all be very comfortable all crammed in there".

O'Neill stood "It's a tactically sound strategy, we need time to accomplish our objectives, being attacked every time we stop makes that difficult, if not impossible".

Buffy nodded "I kinda got the feeling from earlier that it really wasn't a suggestion, more like a hey, here's what happening, sure I don't like it, but Shayla's the boss, now we need to figure out how were going to do this, and who goes where".

Atton cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention "There's the Sith Interceptor, with the Zabrak's help I might be able to crack the security protocols and get her flying, it can carry eight people".

"Wouldn't it be a bad thing to be seen flying around in a Sith ship?" buffy asked "From everything I heard the Sith are hated and feared".

Bao-Dur nodded, "True, but I have seen them in action, Interceptors are very difficult to detect, in the hands of an experienced pilot that is, if Atton and I can breach the security systems, it might give us an advantage, besides, the ship might have some intelligence that may prove useful".

Giles stepped up "Shayla, exactly how many groups were you thinking we should divide into?".

"Three at most" she said "Kreia and I have discussed this quite thoroughly, Dawn, Xander and myself should not be travelling together for an extended period, due to the connection between us, the ripples in the force intensifies when we're in close proximity".

Faith nodded "Okay, but what about you Kreia?. You have a connection as well, using that theory, shouldn't it be four groups?".

The old woman seemed surprised "An astute observation, and yes, I have a connection, but only to Shayla, Dawn and Xander are connected to Shayla and she to them, the connections are different, I have meditated on this situation for many days now, of that i am certain".

Giles nodded "These connections, bonds if you will, I assume they are the cause of Dawn and Xanders new found abilities with the force?".

"Yes" Kreia nodded "Shayla lost the ability to feel the force many years ago, during our time on Peragus, I reached out to Shayla while I was comatose, in doing so I may have been the catalyst that gave her a chance to feel the force again, as for the transferral to Dawn and Xander I can only guess".

Buffy looked up "So what's your guess ?".

Kreia looked to her, then to Dawn and Xander, since they were the topic of discussion for the moment "My theory is that when I connected with Shayla, she instinctively reached out as I did, though it would mean the two of you must have been force sensitive to begin with for the connection to be established, though how the connection would grant the two of you a level of instinctual understanding in the force, in addition to subconscious knowledge of JedI training I have no theory".

Everyone was silent for a few moments, letting the woman's words sink in, finally Xander stepped forward "If we can get the Interceptor working, I'd like to take it, if no one objects".

Most of the group stopped, surprised by his willingness to actually take a command position, he looked to Buffy and Willow, expecting some kind of resistance, they were always the first two who tried to argue with him if he tried to take on more than they thought he should.

Faith however surprised everyone "Where Harris goes, so do I".

Buffy was the most surprised by her statement "Okay, everyone slow down, if anyone should lead any group, it should be Faith and I, after Shayla, we have the most experience, I'm not saying this because I don't believe in you Xander, but it's a fact".

"Buffy, this is not our place, this is a Galaxy with different rules than we are used to, perhaps it is best that the JedI lead the groups" Giles suggested.

Xander scowled "Dawn and I are not JedI" he said the last word vehemently "We just have to ability to use the force, two different things G-man".

"The boy is correct, they both have the training and the potential, but neither of them were actually trained, neither of them asked to become JedI" she sighed.

"I see, I was unaware of the differences, my apologies" Giles said.

Xander nodded, "It's okay, I didn't really get a handle on it till we met with Atris".

Dawn finally spoke up "If she's the best example of a JedI, I'm glad I'm not actually one of them" she spat.

Buffy still didn't like the Idea of Xander, and more importantly her sister, leading the two groups, Shayla was obviously a leader, and though she had seen both her sister and friend handle a few situations with clear heads she just couldn't bring herself to let them take that burden.

"Xander, please, think about this" she started to say.

"Buffy" he said, cutting her off "I know you want to keep us safe, but we're targets, plain and simple, we're the ones connected to Shayla, we're the ones the Sith will be coming after".

"More of a reason we should keep you guys safe, and away from the bad guys" Buffy said.

Xander shook his head "You haven't faced a Dark JedI Buffy, we have, sure I got hurt pretty bad that first time but I lived, and I'm stronger for it".

Faith stepped up "I fought one B, he took me apart in seconds, and I got a feeling he was just another soldier, like a Sergeant or something".

Buffy spun to face her "Faith, of everyone I thought you'd be backing me up!".

"Normally I would, but this ain't our place, Xander and Dawn are the ones touched, this is their fight" she sighed "Look, I've seen them both in action, they got what it takes, I don't know when I realized it, but they are leaders" she said, not noticing the two in question looking rather uncomfortable at the praise.

"Faith, I never thought I'd ever see you willingly follow another" Buffy said.

She shrugged her shoulders "Yeah, funny ain't it" she pulled out a stick of gum "We all know I'm not much of a leader, hell, we all know I'm not much of a follower, this is different though, I can't really explain it better than that".

Buffy just stood there, feeling alone with her concerns, finally she stepped back "All right, I'll back down, but I'm standing by my feelings" she looked to Dawn "Until I've been shown otherwise".

Dawn seemed to understand her meaning, smiling slightly, she said nothing though.

"Xander" Shayla said finally "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, bringing attention back to his request.

"Yup, I do" he nodded "If Faith wants to come along, she's more than welcome to join me, that leaves six more".

The white haired Echani stepped forward "If there are no objections, I too would be honoured if you would accept me".

Xander nodded "Anyone else?".

Shayla stepped up next to him "You need a pilot".

"If Atton gives me a crash course I can handle it" O'Neill said as he rocked on the balls of his feet.

"You will need someone capable of making repairs, I would be a logical choice" Bao-Dur nodded.

Xander smiled "Thanks, but what about the Ebon Hawk, it'll likely need more care than the Interceptor…assuming you really can get past the security systems".

"Oh, I'm not worried about the Interceptor, we'll get it flying again, and as for the Ebon Hawk, I'm pretty sure Atton can keep the ship flying" the Zabrak smiled.

Atton nodded "A good pilot knows enough to keep the important stuff working".

"That still leaves two slots" Faith said.

Xander shook his head "That should be enough, besides, I was assuming you'd want to bring along that spider droid of yours".

Faith nodded "Yeah, I do actually, T3's done an awesome job fixing him up, added a few new gizmo's, armour and weapons, we just need to finish a few things with the programming, I have no idea what the little guy was talking about but he knows his stuff".

"I could help with that" Bao-Dur said.

She smiled "Thanks".

Shayla nodded "It's settled then, if you two can get the Interceptor operational, you can leave immediately" she looked into Xanders eyes "I'm curious though on which planet you hoped to search first?".

Xander glanced to Buffy before speaking "I was thinking about Korriban".

That was not what Shayla expected "The world Master Lonna Vash was reported to be, why?".

Xander took a deep breath, again glancing at Buffy.

Buffy however stepped up "Because we know Master Vash, or at least we think we do".

Shayla looked to Kreia, then back to Buffy and Xander "You know her?. How is this possible?".

Xander took over "She's a lot older than I remember from the last time I saw her" he hesitated "We knew her as Cordelia Chase back where we come from…she died about two years ago".

Shayla shook her head, obviously confused "That can't be, Master Vash was at my trial nearly ten years ago, she's been a Master of the JedI Order for twice that".

Buffy nodded "It's hard to understand, I get that, I really do, but the resemblance is uncanny, she is a spitting image of Cordy, an older Cordy, with really cool hair, but that's just Cordy, always has to look good" she smirked.

Shayla nodded "Okay, I of all people know how strange things can be, but Xander, you do know how dangerous it could be on Korriban, it was the birth place of the Sith".

"Yeah, read up on it" he said "Which is another reason I want to do this…need to do this, if Vash is really Cordy, I can't let her walk on that planet alone".

Shayla stepped forward, stopping inches from him "Okay, but please be careful".

He just smiled "Careful is my middle name".

Kreia sighed loudly "That is nice, but we should also determine where the rest of us should go, we discussed earlier the possibilities of both Dantooine and Nar Shadaa, both are the last known locations of Masters Zez Kai Ell and Vrook".

"I still say Nar Shadaa is a good choice" Atton piped up.

Dawn sat up straighter "But Dantooine is also were we're supposed to meet if we can gather up the missing JedI, checking it out is a good idea, you know, to make sure it's safe".

Buffy smiled at her sisters idea, "Tactically it makes the most sense".

"Atton, you mentioned that a lot of old freighters were abandoned when Malak destroyed the JedI Eclave there right?" Dawn asked.

He nodded "Yeah, when the turbo lasers starting tearing apart the area, no one wanted to risk flying I guess, so they ducked into the hills".

Buffy looked to Shayla "And this JedI Enclave, it was on Dantooine?".

"Yes, in fact there might be something we can salvage from the Enclave, if Malak didn't completely destroy it" Shayla responded.

Dawn nodded "Okay, we head to Dantooine, if we can find another ship I'll lead a group to either Nar Shadaa or Onderon, the last place to look, for Master Kavar I think it was, with Xander searching Korriban, you searching Dantooine, we should be able to cover them all pretty quickly, I guess we could all meet back up on the last planet we need to search, who ever get's there first can get things going".

Buffy was stunned for the second time in five minutes, this time however she didn't argue, she just stood back and listened.

Shayla looked around the room, no one was ready to argue her suggestion "All right, Dantooine it is" she looked to the young woman "It's a good plan Dawn".

Dawn smiled "Thanks, we should figure out which one we'll meet at though, cause I don't think we should risk making any long distance calls to let Xander and company know where we'll be".

Everyone smirked at the reference, those who understood the direct meaning at least, everyone else did understand the basic reference however.

"Onderon" Kreia stated "It remained nearly untouched during both the Mandalorian War and the JedI Civil War, it should be relatively easy to locate each other".

"So Nar Shadaa it is" Dawn said "If we can find another ship that is".

O'Neill stood up "Okay then, if that's everything, we should start getting the Ebon hawk loaded, we can go through the storage cylinders to see what we can use on the Interceptor".

Bao-Dur nodded "We should head out, the sooner we get started the sooner we can get the ship operational".

Kreia stood up as well "It has been along day, I shall be in my chambers meditating" she left quickly, ignoring everyone from that moment forward.

Atton, O'Neill and Bao-Dur left right after her, Graham and Riley shrugged their shoulders and headed off after them, it was plain to see that both men felt slightly left out, but neither complained.

Shayla realized that one member of the group had remained silent throughout the entire meeting "Willow, would you be willing to help me on the ship, there's a few things I think Xander could use".

Willow looked up, the girl was exhausted "Huh, oh..um yeah" she slowly stood, Shannon moved to her side quickly to steady her, Willow smiled at the younger Slayer "Thanks".

Shannon nodded and stepped back as Shayla moved to her side "It's easy work, nothing strenuous" she added as she guided her towards the hangar bay.

That left the orginal scoobies plus the two young Slayers, Faith cleared her throat "Guys".

Everyone looked to her, "What's up Faith?" Xander asked.

"Before we split up, I just wanted to come clean" she sighed "I knew that Buffy was coming, for a while now".

Dawn smirked as she looked to her sister, Xander nodded "I'm not surprised" he looked at Dawn "Are you surprised?" he smiled.

"No, I'm not surprised" she said.

Buffy nodded "I did tell her to let you two know" she leaned forward slightly "So why didn't you tell them?".

Faith sighed "The main reason was I didn't know how to tell them, that's the truth".

"There's more than one?" Giles asked.

Faith nodded "I also didn't know if you guys would really be able to do it, then there's Kreia".

Buffy nodded "You don't trust her either".

Dawn and Xander exchanged looks "It took you guys this long to figure that out?" they both asked almost in unison.

Shannon and Caridad couldn't help but giggle slightly, but quickly quieted from combined glares from the two senior Slayers.

Buffy turned back to Faith "She periodically sets off my Senses".

"Same, sometimes she isn't there, other times she lights up like a nuke" Faith agreed.

Shannon and Caridad looked to each other "What does that mean exactly?" Shannon asked.

Giles caught the looks on his two Senior Slayers faces "She's masking her presence, isn't she?".

Faith nodded "I've been around her a lot, I'd have to say yes, when things are calm, she seems to be almost unnoticeable, but when things get hectic, what ever she's doing to stay unseen slips a bit, I don't trust her but I don't think she's trying to hide from us, I think she's trying to hide from the big bad that after us".

"Why?" Buffy asked, still not sure of what was really happening.

"She's become Shayla's mentor, with the possibility of the Sith tracking us down, I think she's been trying to keep the blood hounds from finding us, or at least from making the trail easier to follow" Faith explained.

"So she's really trying to help?" Cari asked.

Faith nodded slowly "Kinda, she might be trying to help against the Sith, but it's clear that she has her own agenda, no clue to what it is, but I'm positive she's got something in the works".

"Then I'm glad you kept our arrival from her, things might have been different had she known we were coming" Giles said "I also think that when we reach Dantooine, assuming another ship can be found, at least two of us should remain with Shayla, to keep an eye on the mysterious woman".

Caridad stepped forward "I like Shayla, she's got a good heart, count me in".

Giles nodded "If it can be arranged, I will stay with her as well, though this may change, depending upon what we find on Dantooine, and the council Kreia is giving to our new leader".

Buffy nodded "Okay, if it can be done, the two of you will stay with Shayla" she looked to Dawn "I don't need to say it do I?".

Dawn smiled "Buffy, I'd be very worried if you said you weren't coming with me".

"Am I that transparent?" she smiled.

"No, just protective" she said "Besides, I was giving you another five minutes before I told you that your coming with me".

Buffy smiled "Really?".

Dawn rolled her eyes "Yes silly, you're my sister, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have watching my back".

"What about Atton?" Faith couldn't stop the urge.

Dawn looked stunned, Xander chuckled, Giles began to clean his glasses and both Cari and Shannon found the floor very interesting.

Buffy wanted to smirk at the look on her little sisters face but managed to conceal it, Faith however was grinning like a fool.

"Atton?. What the hell are you talking about?" Dawn asked.

Faith stood up and headed for the door "Oh nothing, I really should go check on the guys, they might have some trouble with some of those cylinders".

Dawn wouldn't let her go that easily "Hey, wait a minute, what the hell are you getting at?" she called out as she moved to follow the brunette slayer.

The two had been gone for only a few seconds when Buffy felt like everyone was staring at her, she couldn't hold it in any longer and laughed loudly, her face turning red almost instantly from the amount of blood rushing to her face.

Xander was more confused than anyone, the look on his face made her laugh even more.

Giles shook his head "Buffy, please, what is so amusing?".

Nearly a minute passed before she could respond, and it was mostly because the pain in her chest made it easier to not burst into laughter again.

Xander raised his eyebrow "So?".

Buffy smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes "I already threatened to break every bone in his body".

"When did you talk with Atton?" Xander asked.

"We were all locked up, while you guys were talking to Atris" she explained.

Giles nodded "As long as he remains a gentleman I will refrain from hurting him".

Now everyone looked to Giles, not expecting such a comment, Buffy nodded "Okay, he is older than Dawn, by nearly a decade, he's an abrasive jerk sometimes, but he's just as creeped out as the rest of us…I mean because he finds Dawn attractive, he thinks he's a creep for even thinking about it…which in a big way he is..but he isn't cause he can't help it, so I think it's real".

Xander and Giles nodded, having gotten used to the woman's unique speech patterns over the years "So your cool with something possibly happening between them?" Xander asked.

Buffy shook her head "No, but she's an adult, she can make her own decisions, besides, who am I to judge, my love life has been a lot worse than that" she smirked "But I did tell him to talk to her, whether he does or doesn't, I won't start worrying till I have reason too".

Her explanation seemed to satisfy everyone, Xander stood up "Okay then" he said "I think I'm going to check on Atton and Bao-Dur, see if they have a grasp on things".

Everyone nodded as he left, Cari and Shannon falling in behind, after a subtle glance from Buffy, they both understood her silent request that they make sure he didn't say a word to Atton, or more likely to happen, a physical confrontation.

That left Buffy and Giles alone, together, both quiet as the events of the last few hours ran through both of their minds.

"I'm proud of you Buffy" Giles finally said.

She just looked at him.

"For doing what needed to be done, in regards to Dawn and Xander" he added.

She nodded "I still don't like it".

"I know, neither do I, but I learned along time ago that I can't always be the one to take the lead" he smiled.

She looked into his eyes, the meaning in his words finally hit home "This is how you felt…for all those years, all those fights, the apocalypses".

He smiled "Yes" he sighed "I wish I could tell you it get's easier, but that would be a lie".

She nodded, "Giles" she said quietly "The way Faith backed them up, that's not the Faith we used to know".

He nodded "She seems to have grown quite a bit in the last while, more so than I'd have ever thought possible".

"But it's the way she's willing to just slide back, without questioning why, I just don't get it" Buffy explained.

Giles frowned "True, her recent actions do seem out of character, however, we know only a small bit of what happened before we arrived, it's obvious they have all gone through some trying ordeals".

Buffy saw where he was going "Maybe she really has changed, maybe Dawn and Xander are influencing her subconsciously" she shook her head "I'm just thrown by how she can just do that without knowing the reasons why,".

Giles smiled "I do understand, I myself am finding Xander's behaviour rather odd, though he still has a grasp on his unusual sense of humour, he seems, confident, controlled, sometimes driven".

Buffy nodded "You think it's this link with Shayla?".

"Perhaps" he leaned back in his chair "This bond may have transferred more than just instinctual abilities to them both, it may have even transferred some of Shayla's personality traits".

"That doesn't sound good" she said "I like Xander and Dawn as themselves".

"I didn't mean that they were becoming Shayla, only that perhaps the needed personality traits were transferred with the abilities and skills, to ensure that they could handle this force, keep in mind, Dawn was once the key, she may not be a source of power anymore, but we both know that she did retain a small amount of that unique energy, it could very well be the reason they were both able to connect with Shayla" he said, almost as if he was thinking it through out loud and not really discussing it with her.

Buffy saw the connection "I didn't really think about that, I guess I've kinda forgotten about Dawn's origins, she's just my sister now".

"I know, I think we've all sort of forgotten over the last few years" he said.

Buffy stood up "Well, I think I'm going to go see if anyone needs help, if I don't so something constructive I'm going to go crazy".

"That sounds like an excellent idea" Giles said as he stood.

"Giles, thanks for the talk" Buffy said, touching his arm lightly.

He smiled "It's why I'm here, I'm just glad that you can still turn to me like that".

"I know, we've had a rough time, but we're stronger for it I think" she said.

"Yes, I do believe your right" he said, and surprised her by pulling her into a hug.

**Next Chapter: The gang says 'see ya later' to Xander and his team. And break for their intended destinations. Atton and Dawn have a heart to heart. And everyone has time to really take a breather and think about what's happened and what might happen. **

**Chapter 6 will be the end of Volume 2. Volume 3 will be both Dantooine and Korriban, I thought it would be an appropriate way to start the group splitting up, one going to a JedI enclave, the other to the Sith. I know this will make things complicated in regards to how certain events will now happen to other characters, instead of the Exile, but it is how the idea's are forming in my head.**

**DR MASAKI Thanks so much for the reviews. Your idea's on fleshing out a few of the characters really did get the brain sparks flying. I am forever in your debt. :D **

**I'm slowly trying to get a few of those suggestions, plus a few my own brain tossed in worked out, my current thoughts on how Faith is dealing hasn't been fully fleshed out yet. Xander is even less so, I admit. Dawn I think I have a pretty solid idea. However I thought it might be easier to get a feel for how the other characters see how the Trio have changed, before I really got into their POV's. **

**It might be pretty obvious that Buffy seems way more accepting of how things are proceeding than she would normally be, especially where dawn is concerned. And Xander for that matter. My entire basis for her maturity is entirely conjectural, as she's sat behind a desk for the last two years or so, helping get things going with the watchers council. She wasn't on the front lines so to speak, to help organize a world wide establishment, a little maturity would be required.**

**Anywho. Thanks muchly to those who have read what I've created. And double muchly's to those who have left reviews…hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge.**


	6. Chapter 6

Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos

Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.

The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.

**Chapter Six**

Giles stepped through the entrance of the Ebon Hawk and instantly felt comfortable within it's confines, the small freighter had a feeling that made him think of home, he smiled, and embraced the feeling for a moment before turning to the task that brought him here.

The sound of the small droid T3 told him everything he needed to know, following it through a short corridor he found the person he was looking for, Faith, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, her former mining droid in front of her and various tools spread around her.

A small portable computer unit was next to her, attached to the droid, she was reading it with a strange intensity he had never seen before, T3 was on the other side of her, one of his tool arms stretched out, likely doing something to the internal workings of her droid.

"So, the secondary nodes connect with the primary actuator, allowing a stable connection between the memory core and the processor?" she asked, receiving high pitched series of beeps from the tiny droid.

She smiled at T3 "See, I told ya I'm edumatcated" she joked.

Giles cleared his throat "How can you understand that beeping?".

Faith turned her head slightly "Wondered when you'd say something" she smirked "T3 programmed a translator program into this portable display, it translates what he says into English".

Giles stopped "It understands written English?".

"Had to program that too G" she said as she picked up a small tool and leaned into her droid "took a lot less time though, T3 knows more languages than anyone we likely both know".

"I see" he said.

"So, why ya here?" she asked, then stopped "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that".

The Watcher nodded "I know" he sighed "I..i just wanted to talk with you, I wanted to know how you were doing".

"Five by five" she said.

Giles nodded as he leaned against the bulkhead "Faith, in the last few years you've become quite easy to read" he said firmly.

"Like glass huh?" she asked.

"More like an ancient book of weapons" he smiled "In a forgotten language".

She looked at him "Damn, that bad?".

He chuckled "Faith, before you ended up here, you were slowly becoming apart of the family, it sounds rather harsh I know, but you were so close to becoming the woman, I never thought you could be".

She didn't say anything as he spoke, she just watched him.

"What I'm trying to say, is that one week here seems to have been a good thing for you, you've grown so much, I think it's just taken everyone by surprise" he explained.

"Good I hope" she stated.

Giles nodded "More than good" he moved closer, only a few feet though "That is why everyone is more than a little surprised by your willingness to accept Xander and his newly acquired sense of responsibility".

Faith nodded slowly, then moved to stand, "Giles" she started "You want to understand why, I get that, I really do, the thing is, I'm not sure I get it myself".

Giles didn't respond, he could see how the young woman was working things out in her own head.

"When we got here, when I found out about Dawn and Xander, I almost freaked, but in less than a day, I saw a change in them that I found comforting, sounds messed up, but that's how it feels" she said, staring off to the side "Dawn and Xander were chosen by something, to wield this power, that's how it feels to me, whether it's the truth or not, that's how I see it, and no good will come from doubting them".

"Faith, keep in mind that the rest of us just arrived, to us their change is so abrupt, so sudden" he said.

"I can see that" she nodded "But I also see how deep down the both of them are still the same, Xander definitely hasn't lost that sense of humor, and Dawnie, well, I never really got to know her, so that ones hard to pin down".

Giles nodded "I guess I just want to understand".

"So do I G, but after a week here I came to a really profound conclusion" she smiled "And my rather expanded vocabulary is not it".

Giles chuckled again "And what is that?".

"I feel more at home here, with Dawn and Xander, than i did back on earth" she said quietly "Not once did they question me or doubt me".

"So you are returning the favor?" he asked.

Faith shook her head "There's no favor to return, I trust them both Giles, with my life, they both earned that" she sighed "I can't give you the answers you want G, I don't know how to explain everything I'm feeling, I can only tell you that in time, you'll see what I see, you all will".

Giles looked into her eyes, and saw something he never saw before, wisdom, it was comforting and terrifying all at once, but it filled him with a feeling of pride he never expected to feel.

Faith smiled "I got a question".

Giles nodded "I may have an answer".

"Wanna help me fix my droid?" she smiled.

Giles smiled slowly "On one condition, that the others are never told I willingly agreed to this".

Faith nodded "I'm sure we can arrange something" she turned and sat back down, Giles moved to join her.

**The Interceptor**

Buffy moved carefully through the Sith vessel like it was enemy territory, even though less than a few hours ago it was.

She heard two voices up ahead, Atton and Jonathan, she smiled and crossed the last few meters, stepping into the much smaller cock-pit.

Both men turned as she entered "Hey Summers" O'Niell smirked.

"O'Niell, Atton" she nodded "I was wondering if I could have a word?" she said looking directly at Jon.

Atton nodded "Were pretty much done here, you've got the basics" he said to the younger pilot.

O'Niell nodded and turned the chair slightly as Atton got up to leave, "Thanks Rand".

"No problem, just watch out for power surges, you'll do fine" the dark haired pilot said as he left, nodding to Buffy as he passed.

Jon turned to the blonde and motioned to the now empty co-pilots chair "Care to sit?".

Buffy nodded and moved to the chair, finding it surprisingly comfortable "Wow, this is nice".

"Isn't it" Jon smirked "So what's up?'.

Buffy looked to the door before speaking "I just wanted to thank you for this".

"For what exactly?" he asked.

"For willing to keep an eye on Xander and Faith" she smiled.

He just shrugged his shoulders "They needed a pilot".

Buffy snorted "Right".

Jon shook his head "Okay, okay, it was only part of it, but hey, at least in this chair I can make sure they don't get killed".

Buffy nodded "So you can really fly this thing?".

Jon smiled "Remember our talk, before we left?".

Buffy nodded .

"This is going to be easy" he smiled "Surprising really, that this Galaxy has had Hyperspace technology for nearly twenty thousand years, and they haven't improved the technology nearly at all".

Buffy stared at him "The stuff you played with before was more advanced I take it?".

He nodded "Granted the stuff I played with was alien or derived from alien tech, but except for one or two species we had deals with, most others, even earth, had much more advanced systems, take the deflector shields on this thing, no where near the level I'm used too, the weapons are pretty equivalent though, just different, and not as efficient".

Buffy nodded "So, you really are a clone" she stated.

Jon chuckled "Finally believing it?".

"Hey, I believed it, I just didn't…believe it" she said defensively.

He nodded "I get it" he leaned back in the chair "So what made it really sink in?".

"Your professional attitude, and the different way your reacting to all this than two others I can think of".

"Finn and Miller will come around, their just a bit overwhelmed is all" he nodded "Their good guys, willing to do what needs to be done and take orders".

"I already know that, I just wasn't expecting them to both be so damn mopey" she said.

Jon nodded "Why not?, Riley left behind a wife and daughter, Miller was engaged".

Buffy stopped "I knew he was married, but he never told me…".

"You're the boss Summers, of course he wouldn't tell you" He shrugged.

Buffy sighed and turned to look out the cock-pit window, the starboard side of the Ebon Hawk was just barely visible.

"Okay, what's up?" Asked Jon.

She shook her head "Nothing…okay something, but it's not really relevant, not really..".

Jon shook his head this time "Out with it Summers, I don't have all day".

Buffy almost snapped at him, until she saw the smirk on his face, she smiled slightly "I'm thinking it should be obvious to one with nearly fifty years of lifes experience".

Jon nodded "Maybe it is, but in my decades of experience, I find it helps to actually talk about what's bothering you".

"Xander, Dawn and even Faith…they've changed so much, and here I am sitting on the side lines, while they willingly take the lead" she said quietly.

"And, what's the problem with that?" he asked.

"What's the problem?..the problem is it really looks like the fate of a Galaxy is sitting on their shoulders, and all I can do is stand here while they deal with it" she said louder.

Jon nodded "Well, your pretty spry for a woman sitting there doing nothing" he quipped.

Buffy shook her head "Okay, so I'm not actually sitting on my ass…but I feel like it, I just feel like I should be up front taking the heat while everyone backs me up…it's what I'm used too".

"I remember feeling the same way after I was cloned, kinda" he shrugged "The real O'Niell get's to go off world, hang with the team, save the world, make bad jokes at inopportune times" he sighed "while I got saddled with high school and beating up the Jocks that picked on the science club".

Buffy winced "Ouch, High school?, twice in one life?, how'd you survive?" she smirked.

"Yeah yeah, anyway, I just felt completely left out, I actually didn't talk to the real me for nearly a year, the team another few months, then we started to find a new place, I became something like the nephew, someone to look out for, but with the bonus of being able to rub old humiliating stories into everyone's faces" he smiled at the memories.

Buffy nodded "So what your saying is I'll eventually find a way to deal and contribute to the mission".

"No, your already doing that" he smiled, then turned back to the ships controls "I'm done here and the ships fully loaded, so unless your coming with us, ya might wanna check on the others" he winked.

"Okay, okay, I'm getting off your ship" she smiled and stood up, stopping to rest a hand on his shoulder "thanks for the talk Jon".

"Yeah sure, you betcha" he winked again, and watched her leave the cock-pit.

**Ebon Hawk- Cargo Bay**

Dawn moved carefully through the short corridors of the Ebon Hawk, knowing her quarry was onboard, she didn't search long however, as the woman she was stalking was currently making quite a bit of noise.

Stopping just in the arch to the cargo bay, she spotted the white haired Handmaiden practicing with her Staff, the form was like nothing she had ever seen before, the ease and grace in which she pulled off a few maneuvers definitely proved that the woman was a warrior.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you" Dawn lied.

The Echani warrior stopped her practice and turned to look at her with a nearly unreadable expression on her face "No, It's alright, I should be moving my belongings to the Interceptor".

Dawn stepped just inside "I'll be quick then, hurt Xander, or anyone else for that matter and I swear, there will be no where in this Galaxy that you could run to that I won't find".

The woman locked eyes for a moment, finally, the Handmaiden nodded "I believe you".

"Good" Dawn said "So, you got the hot's for him" she added.

The newest addition to the group simply stared, this look was one of confusion however, "Hot's?".

"Oh, please, I'm not blind Handmaiden, you see something in Xander, something that you like, I think that's why you joined up with us" Dawn stated.

Handmaiden sighed "As I said before, I am here at the request of my mistress".

"No, I'm sorry, try again" Dawn retorted "In the few minutes I spent in the presence of your esteemed mistress, I got a feeling that she wouldn't have simply left you in our cargo bay, if she really wanted you to come along, she would have told us".

Handmaiden didn't respond, she just stared at a spot at Dawn's feet.

Dawn sighed and took another step, "Look, whatever your reason, it's none of my business, as long as you're here to help, and as long as you have no ulterior motives that involve screwing us over, I'm glad that your with us, we definitely need the help".

"Thank you" Handmaiden said quietly.

Dawn simply nodded and turned to leave "Your welcome".

**Research Facility**

Buffy entered the final corridor that led to the Hangar bay, after seeing Jon working with the Interceptor, she felt a lot better, the man was confident that he could pilot the ship, that thought would have to be enough.

Entering the Hangar Bay she spotted Giles just stepping off the Ebon Hawk's ramp, he spotted her a second later and waved, then moved towards her.

"Hey Giles" she said as they closed the distance.

"Buffy" he said curtly "How are the preparations on the Interceptor proceeding?".

She smiled "Good, the security lockouts were no problem for Bao'dur, and O'Niell says he can pilot the ship easy".

Giles nodded "That's good".

Buffy nodded but didn't say anything, so Giles continued.

"Do not worry about them, Xander and the others will be fine, you've seen him in action, you know he can do this" he said quietly.

"I know, it's just that I'm feeling all fifth wheel here, just without an actual wheel" she huffed "Xander, Faith and the others are leaving for a world that these big bad's came from, without me, without us".

Giles wrapped an arm over her shoulder as they walked towards Droid Maintenance "I understand, I feel the same way, but Xander feels he can do this and Shayla is right, with the three of them together we likely won't have time to find the Jedi Masters".

"I know, I know, it needs to be done" she sighed, then looked up into the eyes of the man who had basically become her father "Just make me a promise that if we find another ship on Dantooy..".

"Dantooine" Giles smiled.

She rolled her eyes "That if we split up into a third group, that you will stay alive and all in one big piece of Giles".

The elder Scooby smiled "I shall endeavor to remain in one piece".

"Good, now let's go find Xander and say good by, the Interceptor is ready to go" she added.

Giles nodded as they entered the next corridor, the sounds of voices ahead of them echoed throughout the halls.

Entering Droid Maintenance they stopped, standing in the middle of the room was Bao'dur, Xander and Shayla, in between them was a hunter killer droid.

"This has got to be an older model" the Zabrak engineer said as he examined the machine.

Shayla nodded "The corrosion across the armor and framework is not that bad, it can be repaired".

Xander shook his head "Whoa, slow down, this is a hunter killer droid, and, it was locked up in the sealed room on the Ebon Hawk, we have no idea what it was programmed to do".

Buffy slipped from under Giles arm "Fix it up then, we ask it questions and if it goes all killer droid, we break it".

Shayla smiled at Buffy's words and nodded "I agree, it might know where the others are coming from, maybe even who sent it".

Bao'dur nodded "I can fix it, but not now, we need more parts".

"Stow it back on the ship then" Buffy added "Under lock".

Boa'dur nodded and retrieved a dolly without any wheels, the bottom began to hover a few inches from the ground as he gripped the handle, and with Xanders help they easily moved the droid to the dolly.

"I'll make sure it's secure" Bao-dur said and left for the ship, leaving the four behind.

Shayla looked at Buffy and smiled "I'll give you guys a few minutes".

Buffy nodded, and watched the Jedi leave, then turned to Xander, "The interceptor's ready" she barely managed to say.

Xander nodded and slowly approached her "Don't worry buff, we'll be fine, just a quick retrieval mission, in a few days we'll be drinking martini's in a cantina on another world".

Giles smiled "I don't think this galaxy has martini's".

Xander nodded "But if they did" he smiled.

"Are you absolutely sure about this Xander?" Buffy asked "We just found you guys, are you ready to go this alone?".

Xander smiled and moved closer to his friend "Honestly, I don't know, but Vash, Cordy, whoever she is, is either heading to a bad place or is already there, alone".

Buffy sighed "Just be careful, I just got you back".

"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine, just a bit dusty the next time you see us" he grinned.

Giles stepped closer "Though it goes against the very nature of who I am, I think a group hug is in order".

Both Xander and Buffy looked up at the man in shock, then too each other.

"Did he?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, he did" Xander nodded.

A second later both of them had wrapped their arms around the former Watcher, only to be interrupted by a rather annoyed voice.

"A group hug without us!, how dare you!" bellowed Dawn.

All three turned just in time to see Dawn launching towards them, Willow's red hair bobbing along right behind her, the two joined the hug in short order.

"Don't worry guys, we'll be quick and careful, and we'll meet you at Onderon" Xander said, looking into everyone's eyes.

Dawn nodded "You better, cause I will tear this entire galaxy apart if you disappear on us".

"She'll start at one end and I'll start on the other" Buffy smirked.

Xander laughed, Giles shuddered "God help the Galaxy if it should come to that".

**Facility Hangar Bay**

Faith saw Shayla enter the hangar bay from the droid maintenance corridor, the smile on her face told her that something was up, likely with the Scoobies "Hey Shay, what's up?".

The slightly older woman adjusted her walk in order to join her, Faith put down the data pad Bao'Dur had given her, it contained a beginners course on Droid maintenance.

"As you would say, not much" Shayla smiled "I just thought Xander and Dawn would like a few minutes alone with the others" she said.

"Yeah, they're a close bunch, nearly ten years of fighting evil and averting apocalypses will do that" Faith smiled.

Shayla nodded "They're a family, it's good to see" she hesitated thoughtfully "So why aren't you in there with them?".

Faith smiled "Not one for the touchy feelies" she said "I'll grab a quick hug before we leave, hopefully at the last second, emotional stuff and me don't really mix".

Shayla nodded thoughtfully "I expected as much" she glanced around the hangar bay before continuing "Faith, promise me that you'll take care of everyone, yourself included".

Faith, still smiling, nodded "Don't tell me that your getting all touchy feely with me?, Damn, they've rubbed off on ya".

Shayla chuckled quietly "Truthfully, in the last week, you, Dawn and Xander have become something I…I'm not very good at expressing emotions either it seems" she sighed.

Faith stepped closer "Hey, no sweat, I understand" she said "I promise we'll all come back in one piece, just promise me the same alright?".

Shayla nodded "I shall try".

Faith smiled "Good, now, a quick hug before anyone stumbles in and off we go to our respective ships".

"Maybe they're rubbing off on you?" Shayla smirked as they embraced each other.

"Don't you even think of saying anything to them, this girl has a reputation to keep" Faith winked as she wrapped her arms around the blonde.

"Your secret is safe with me" Shayla said quietly, then took the Slayer by her shoulders and pushed her back slightly.

"Promise me that you'll come back to us safely, all of you" Shayla said seriously.

Faith could see the emotion in the woman's eyes "I promise" she finally said.

Shayla nodded "Good, now let's see you to the Interceptor".

Faith nodded as the two walked off "I really think we need another name for the ship though".

**Facility Hangar Control**

Willow watched the Zabrak Engineer work his magic on the hangar bay doors one last time, the difference in artificial light and real sunlight was instantly noticeable in the hangar bay as the massive roof doors parted.

"So, this is it" Willow said, more to herself.

Bao-Dur tilted his head "Hmm?".

"Sorry, I was talking to myself" she quickly added.

He just smiled and moved towards the door, stopping only a few feet from her "Miss Rosenburg?".

This caught her attention "Huh..oh, it's just Willow" she smiled.

He nodded with a slight smile "Willow" he said, like he was trying her name out "We shall be alright, as will you and everyone one the Ebon Hawk".

Willow could see the sincerity in his large blue-grey eyes "Thanks".

"No problem" he smiled, and left, moving towards the small Sith Interceptor, parked right beside the Ebon Hawk.

"I just hope your right" she sighed, looking around the room one last time before moving towards the door herself.

**Next: Volume Three-The Enclaves (Korriban and Dantooine).**

**Sorry about how late this chapter was, work has occupied more of my time than anything else lately. Good news is, I've got another copy of the game, so Volume three should be up shortly, once im happy with the first chapter that is.**

**I know I promised a heart to heart with Atton and Dawn, but what can I say, I felt like drawing that out.**

**I do promise more Willow action, and the not so frequent members of the groups will get some airtime.**


End file.
